


: - THROUGH-THE fe 


sUstimtiele).oG 

PROVIDED -BY 

THE-PEOPLE 

- OF-THE | 
- UNITED-STATES fm 


AMERICAN 
LIBRARY 
ASSOCIATION 
FOR 


THE-USE-OF | 
THE- SOLDIERS 
INSET NERO (S 





THE UNIVERSITY 
OF ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


SV 
kKlew 
cop.@ 


+ ° ™ (Sues 





mec) 
Ciba 














BOLGA. 





THE WIVES OF 
f _ THE PROPHET 


A NOVEI» 


BY 


* OPIE READ 


Author of “A KENTUCKY COLONEL,” ‘‘!'HE COLOSSUS,” “LEN GANSETT,”’ 
“RMMETT BONLORE,”’ ‘‘A TENNESSEE JUDGE,”’ 
“THE TEAR IN THE CUP,” ETC. 





CHICAGO: 
LAIRD & LEE, PUBLISHERS 




















COPYRIGHT, 1894, BY OPIE READ 


(ALL RIGHTS RESERVE 











D.) 


> 


RG 


te aa 





cpa 


"Fi 


, gph ~~ 
WD CAKY TG c_| 


i4 D 34 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


CHAPTEHR=T 


Away up the Cumberland river, in Tennessee, there is 
a scope of country that romantic tourists, who doubtless 
never have been abroad, are wont to declare reminds 
them of Switzerland, It lies, or more correctly speaking, 
rolls and tumbles to the eastward from the river. The 
mountains are not high enough to be white at the top nor 
the valleys deep enough to be dismal at the bottom. In 
winter a hazel gauze is hung from hill-top to hill-top, and 
in summer a dazzling, greenish mist creeps up from the 
river. Very little is known of this section of country. 
Its principal visitors, backed by the government, care not . 
for scenery, loiter not in a nook because it is romantic, 


but pry about in foreboding places, looking for whisky 
_ that bears not the stamp of legitimacy. 


Houses are so scattered and so hidden/away that one 
might fancy them to be suspicious of on/. another; there 
appear to be no paths running from one house to another, 
and a stranger might wander for days at a time without 


8 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


coming upon a habitation. But in the very heart of this 
wave-like, toss-up of country there isa settlement, old and 
so strange that those who sought to get at the thread of 
its mystery came away with a piece of tangled yarn. The 
mystery lay in the reason of its existence. The houses, 
built of stone, are marked with age, moss-grown; the 
walls are cracked. Naught save religion could have 
organized such a brotherhood; naught but the desire to 
worship, to practice a belief in a world to come, unob- 
served by this unreverential, jeering world, could have 
forced men and women to so complete a seclusion. The 
houses are low, built in a circle and are covered with flat 
stones. In the center stands a sort of temple, with a high 
arched entrance and with a porch supported by four mas- 
sive rock pillars. Like Rome, this village held its real 
name a profound secret, too holy to be pronounced by 
_mortallips. It was called Bolga. What thename meant, 
no one knew, no one could learn. Five years ago, Bolga 
must have held four hundred inhabitants. But condi- 
tions are changed now. The village is in a shallow basin, 
an area of land embracing a hundred acres; it is nearly 
square, and a hill, almost a mountain, arises from each 
corner. A pamphlet printed in North Carolina more than 
a hundred years ago, and now owned by the Tennessee 
Historical Society, says that in 1697 a new religious order, 
numbering forty souls, arrived from England, but refus- 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 9 


ing to remain ina civilized community, pushed onward 
into the wilds. ‘They seemed to have held their religion 
as a divine secret, the pamphlet set forth, and could find 
no one in the colony who was worthy to receive it. It is 
now believed by the people of Tennessee, and particularly | 
so by Gov. Bob Taylor, who has given the subject much 
thought, that this strange religious sect, spoken of in the 
pamphlet, founded the village of Bolga. 

During nearly two centuries the religion of the Bol- 
gaites remained the mysterious secret which its founder 
intended that it should, and not until recently was any- 
one prepared by fact or supposition to hang a story 
from the eaves of the weather-stained, the moss-dampened 
pile of stone, the rude but solemn temple in the wilds 
of Tennessee. 

The people of Bolga dug their living out of the soil. 
Their clothes came from the hand-loom. ‘Their linen was 
the finest and brought the highest price in the market. 
There was no individual ownership of property. The vil- 
‘lage was governed by four Councilmen and a Father, who 
was really the chief executive. This Council, with its 
Father, not only had charge of temporal affairs, but kept in 
sacred administration the creed of the community. Males 
and females held the same rights and at the age of seventeen 
were taken into the temple and made active members of 
the church; and here it was that they took an oath which 


10 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


bound them to the religion of their fathers. It wasknown 


that a violation of this oath meant death, but no one ever 


spoke of the consequences entailed by a violation, for no one 
believed in so perfidious a possibility. Every three years a 
strange election took place. The entire village would 
assemble in the temple, and then after the most careful 
deliberation, five of the handsomest maidens were elected 
as Wives of the Prophet. They were decorated with 
flowers and clothed with the finest linen, and after a whole 
day of festivity, were installed in a round building, the 
House of the Prophet, where they lived during the three 
years of their wife-hood. No one was permitted to 
address them except in a most reverential manner—even 
their parents approached them with signs of deepest 
respect. It was believed that some day, no one dared to 
presume when, the Prophet would come and claim his 
wives, and that from the off-spring of the union would 
arise the true savior of mankind. Ifa girl were engaged 
to be married and her wedding day were approaching, she 
was compelled to wait until the wife-election, to see whether 
or not she should be selected by the council to serve as a 
Wife of the Prophet, and if chosen, she was then forced 
to wait three years before her actual marriage could take 
place. But to be a wife of the Prophet was so great an 
honor that to put off a temporal marriage was never 
regarded as a hardship. Many an old woman, wrinkled, 








THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 11 


toothless, spoke with deep feeling of the time when she 
had been a wife of the Prophet. 

The Council and the Father were elected for life. 
Every three years, just after the wives of the Prophet had 
been chosen, the Council, headed by the Father, would 
retire to some secluded place and there in secret rehearse 
their creed in the presence of the Master of all Life— 
rebinding themselves and their people to the covenant, 
solemnly vowing to keep the faith. 

The government of Bolga was simple. Crime, drunk- 
enness was unknown. All differences were settled by the 
Council. Education was fostered, but it was of a pecu- 
liar sort. The school was given almost wholly to rhetoric. 
Mathematics, the Bolgaites said, was the invention of 
man, but speech was God-given. So, among these peo- 
ple, speech attained a peculiar force, almost an elegance. 
Brethren who took the linen to market, were permitted 
to buy any smoothly written book, provided that it had 
no undertone that might be damaging to their religion. 
Asa result the maidens were romantic and the men spoke 
in stilted Sentences. But they abominated newspapers, 
declaring that they were rude in expression, that they 
disturbed the mind with frightful pictures, with records 
of crime and with political strife. Why should there be 
political troubles? God had not given politics to man. 
He had handed down a true religion and politics had 


1s THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


sought to crush it. This would argue that the Bolgaites 
were the people forming the new sect spoken of by the 
old pamphlet, and that having struggled in vain for their 
rights in England, had, after long persecution, come to 
this country, determined to guard their secret, not to 
experiment with salvation, but to grow children in the 
faith rather than to proselyte. . 

Strangers sometimes came to Bolga, but they were 
treated with cool indifference. If they were hungry they 
were given food and told to go their way. If they asked 
to remain over night they were informed that the village 
was full. ‘‘ What is that round house for?’’ strangers 
were wont to ask; and the answer was, ‘‘ To serve its own 
purpose.’’ ‘‘ And that heavy building over there is a 
church, isn’t it?’ ‘‘’That also serves its purpose,’’ 
some one invariably would answer. 

A summer day was closing. The Wives of the Prophet 
had been chosen, and had been escorted to the Prophet’s 
house, there to live in honor during three years. Flowers 
were strewn about the temple, and a pathway of roses 
led to the Prophet’s house. Five old men left the temple 
and, walking one behind another, solemnly strode toward 
a secluded vale. They were going to rehearse their 
creed. 








CHAP DER EEL 


In Nashville lived a young lawyer named Howard 
Bryce. When he was graduated from Vanderbilt Uni- 
versity it was said by that shrewd flatterer — public 
opinion — that he would reach high up amid the affairs 
of men and leave his mark there. Nature had been his 
friend. Circumstances had taken his hand and had made 
a motion as if to kiss it. Women tapped him with their 
fans, and called his attention to trivialities in which they 

were prettily interested. His laugh was infectious and 
his commonplace talk passed for wit, and his wit passed 
for genius. He pretended to hold himself in smart con- 
tempt ; he would say a bright thing and frown at it; he 
said that to be clever was a clown’s province. He knew 
that the shrewdest way to hide vanity was to exhibit it, 
to call attention to it, to make fun of it. It was buta 
question of time, of course, when he would take his place 
at the head of the bar. But time slipped by and the 
plodders were passing him. It was his fault ; he had not 
exerted himself. He had read romances while the plod- 
ders were reading law. After a while he would read law, 

13 


14 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


nothing but law. Where would the plodders be then? 
But idleness had grown upon him and he hated 
facts. Local opinion ceased to flatter him ; no one cared 
to hear his bright sayings ; his epigrams counted against 
him; he heard a dull man say that they were like a 
monkey’s trick, amusing for a moment. He found that 
it was a mistake to throw bright darts at a jury, that 
dullness was always regarded as the law. He was dis- 
gusted. He spoke of his trouble, but he did it in so 
original a way that his friends laughed at him. Unfortu- 
nate is the man whose sorrows are amusing. In the © 
sturdy and stubborn affairs of life there is no hope for the 
man who believes that newness of expression is an essen- 
tia. grace. If his originality is striking men will call him 
a crank ; if it is not striking they will say that he is shal- 
low. But intellectual surprises, if possessed by this man 
to the degree of a defect, were not his only blemishes. 
He lacked moral force, and that was doubtless the reason 
why his disappointments were amusing to his friends. 
He made no acknowledgment that might lead one to 
believe him spiritually awry, but every one seemed to feel 
that he had no respect for certain laws that should govern 

the social conduct of man. Indeed, he sometimes made 
pretenses of a moral sort; but behind one’s own words is 
a flimsy place to hide; they are a lattice-work and men 
see through them. Bryce was as passionate as an Eliza- 








THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 15 


bethan poet. He saw the filth in old plays, and found 
but little of their strength and beauty. He amused him- 
self with trying to write an erotic book, and threw it 
away because he felt that he was hampered, that bound by 






[ 


i 











Bois, F Y/; 7, Uf, Uf, (iia ay 
OYE AM | aren, 7 
‘Ad Wig HH Hi Min du heh, F 
|| ah 
7 ZA 


= 





4 


f / 


$f fi / 1 \ 
TRARY — 
if oa 





) jp e ee 
the opinion of a 
slow-going commu- 
nity he could but 
make a mockery of 
passion. He was 
possessed of a strong physical attractiveness, an outward 
grace which sometimes bespeaks an inward wantonness. 
His hair was black and fine, and his dark eyes were per- 
suasive. 


o t OS ye ee ee ee ee 
Mes 
es see i ya: hat elt be 


16 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


One afternoon Bryce was sitting in his office, leaning 
on a green-covered table, lazily, dreamily, looking at the 
shelves containing his law books. His pipe had gone 
out, had been thrown aside, and ashes were strewn over 
the table. A friend entered. 

‘* Howard, I see you are hard at work.”’ 

‘That you, Hartley ?’’ the lawyer asked without look- 
ing up. ‘‘Sit down.”’ 


The visitor sat down; the lawyer yawned. ‘‘ Any- 
thing going on, Howard ?”’ 

Ves timer? 

A silence followed. ‘‘Howard did you hear about 
Bentley ?”’ 


‘‘No; what about him ?’ 

‘* Has won his case in the supreme court.”’ 

‘“That so? I thought he would amount to something. 
He’s got just sense enough to apply what little mind 
nature gave him. Look here!’’ he added, sitting up, 
facing about and looking at his visitor, ‘‘haven’t you 
fellows anything to do but to come around here to tell me 
of the success of some plodding yap that I don’t care a 
snap for? I’m getting sick of it, Hartley ; in fact Iam 
sick of everything. Now, look here: People were gra- 
cious enough to predict a future for me. Why? Because 
I must have given them some cause. Who inspired the 
cause? Call it what you will— hanged if I know what 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 17 


I’m trying tosay. But I’m sick of the whole business. 
Nature said: ‘Here you are a bee, without the pbee’s 
industry. Now, I’m going to put a dab of honey in front 
of you, but if you taste it I will clip your wings.’ ”’ 

‘‘Howard, you must have run against a love disap- 
pointment.’’ 

The lawyer laughed lazily. ‘‘ Hartley, you are old 
enough to know that there isn’t any such thing as love, 
that is, aside from passion. When passion is dead, love 
is dead. Generosity, certain attributes of the mind, 
inspire friendship; but what inspires love? Beauty, 
voluptuousness. But you must pardon me. I forgot that 
you had been ordained to preach.”’ 

‘“You owe me no apology, Howard ; I am more sor- 
rowful than resentful. I always liked you; you were 
such a help to me years ago. Your hearty buoyancy 
floated me over troublous waters — ”’ 

‘* Are you going to preach now, Hartley ?”’ 

“T wish I might. I wish that I could say som-thing 
to jolt you.” 

“Think I need exercise, eh? Why not turn physician 
and prescribe horseback riding? Pardon the roughness 
of the way I put it, but you moral-drawing fellows make 
me tired. You take it into your head that you are going 
to reform society, and immediately you make a dead set 
at your friends. Don’t worry about me, I have made 


18 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


up my mind that I’m never to amount to anything, and 
that’s all there is to it. You may think that you can 
feel about and find the nerve of my ambition, touch it and 
make me flinch, but you can’t. That nerve is dead.’’ 

‘* Howard, if you are in trouble, remember that trouble 
is the school wherein success is taught. Trouble paints 
strong pictures on the mind.”’ i 

‘* Ah, but the paint eats the canvas. Trouble uses no 
soft oil in its art. But there, old fellow, don’t worry 
about me.’’ He got up and with winning affection put 
his hand on his friend’s shoulder. ‘‘ Go to your congre- 
gation, tell the women, the pretty ones, always to remain 
pure ; tell the old men not to rent any more houses to the 
agents of sin. And if nature has disturbed your dreams 
and your waking hours with the dark eyes and exquisite 
forms of temptation, pray that they may be removed. 
One of these days when I am toothless, half-blind, and 
with this July blood of mine cooled into a slow, January 
flow, I may come around and astonish you with the 
statement that I am ready to become virtuous. Gods! 
old boy, if I were a woman, with the same temperament 
I now have, that scarlet creature of Babylon would be a 
lily in comparison with me. Frank with you? Yes.’’ 

‘* Howard, I will pray for you.’’ 

‘*Don’t. Carry bread to the poor.”’ 

‘* In deepest faith I will ask God to remove your curse.”’ 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 19 


‘Don’t. Clothe the naked. What time’is it getting 
to be? I let my watch run down. Iam going out of 
town for a few days —I am going hunting in the mount- 
ains. It’s not exactly the right time of year, but I’m 
going. I-want to get away from here. Really, now, 
Hartley, I am willing to listen to anything that you may 
have to say, and when I come back I will cali on you, 
and give you a whole evening if you are that much inter- 
ested in me. I’m not quite so bad a fellow as I make 
myself appear; there may be a spark of reformation in 
me somewhere, and when I come back I will let you look 
for it to blow an honest breath upon it.’’ 


CHAPTER III 


That afternoon Bryce set out for the mountains. If he 
thought at all of what his friend had said, it was in the 
most fleeting, the idlest sort of way. He cared not what 
any one said, and he was beginning not to care for what 
any one thought. But to himself he attempted to weave 
no gauzy fabric of defence. He realized that with an 
effort made against himself, that with the subjection of 
self, he might fulfill the promises which his small 
achievements in earlier life had made. But the making 
of that one effort, the forcing of a resolution against so 
intangible an evil, was the one exertion which he could 
not or would not summon the nerve to make. In one 
respect he reminded himself of an opium eater — years of 
planning, but not one hour of execution. He had been 
strongly ambitious, and his ambition had drawn a map of 
the roads it was to traverse, but by by-paths, promising 
enchantment, while agreeing not to lead him far from the 
high-road, allured him away, and when he looked back 
he saw that the distance was great and that brambles had 
sprung up behind him. 

20 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 21 


He took passage on a small boat that ran far up the 
river. The weather was delightful, and the air, cothing 
softly down the stream, was like the breath of a purer, 
sweeter life. He stood at the bow, leaning against the 
jack-staff. The deck hands were singing a song — the 
rich, untaught melody of labor’s resting time. And he 
saw that that they, the creatures of rude strength, gazed 
at him and admired him for the physical quality which 
they themselves possessed. He turned from them, but 
still leaning against the jack-staff, gazed at the green 
hills along the shores of the winding stream. In that 
peaceful view lay a sobering meditation, and he took it 
up. He thought of Hartley, of what a modest, self-sac- 
rificing fellow he had ever been, studious, not bright but 
doggedly plodding toward success ; and that success was 
to be measured by the good which he might do unto © 
man. He thought of the look Hartley had given him at 
the moment when the scarlet woman of Babylon was 
menticned, and a sadness touched him. But was it that 
recollection that deepened his feeling? Was it not the 
more melancholy turn of the song which the deck hands 
were singing? 

He went as far as he could by boat, and then on foot 
strode into the wilds. ‘The boat was to return to Camp- 
bell’s wood-yard, the place where the river journey 
ended, within a week, and by that time Bryce was to be 


22 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


at the landing. It was more than likely that he should 
be there waiting for the steamer. He had begun to fore- 
see that he was to get but a meager pleasure out of his 
self-imposed banishment, And, besides, his determina- 
tion to listen to Hartley drew him toward home. He 
would goto his church, steal in, and after services sur- 
prise him with his presence. Who knew but that Hartley 
might in some way have been inspired to save men from 
ruin.. But, then, up arose the stumbling-block: Who 
was inspired to place temptations in the way of man? 
Why should he be tempted ? Who was to be responsible 
for the evils growing out of that temptation? But what 
good could come from such reasoning? He would go to 
hear Hartley. Yes; and he would make an effort to 
reclaim himself. After all he had not wandered away so 
very far. He was still young, twenty-eight, and was not 
a drunkard. Why life had just begun to spread itself 
out in front of him. Why had people commented upon 
his failure when in truth he had not begun to try? 

One night he missed finding a house, and he lay in the 
woods. His bed was a dreary hollow between two frown- 
ing cliffs, and along toward morning, when at last he had 
forced himself to sleep, he was startled back to conscious- 
ness by the scream of a panther. ‘This was sport, no 
doubt, but he did not like it. He caught up his gun, and 
stood gazing about him. He heard the panther again, 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 2S 


screaming down the gulch, and he fired in the direction 
of the sound. And the report of his gun had not rumbled 
off into silence when up the ravine there was a whip-like 
crack and a bullet buzzed past him. 

tii up there!’ he cried: >‘ Look: out’; you'll hit 
me: % 

Then there came another crack and another bullet. 

‘* Look out, you infernal fool! ‘The panther’s gone.”’ 

‘* Don’t want the panter,’’ a voice cried. 

‘What do you want ?’’ 

‘“Want you, and if you move I’ll git you, too.’’ 

*“Want me?”’ 

Bas. Don't move.”’ 

Some one was approaching. What could all this mean? 
““You stop there!’ Bryce shouted, ‘‘or I’ll shoot you. 
I don’t know who you are, or what you want, but you 
stop there.’’ 

The footsteps ceased. A silence followed, and then a 
voice, coming as if from behind something, shouted : 
“Head him off down thar, Tuck! Ef he comes up this 
way I’ve got him.”’ 

Bryce stepped back until he found the shelter of a rock. 
“Will you be so accommodating as to s=plain why you 
want me?’’ he shouted. 

‘*Mebby you’ll know when we git you, an’ mebby you 
won’t.’’ 


94 THE WIVES OF TH™ PROPHET. 


‘* But what have I done?”’ 

‘*Vou'll find out between now an’ daylight. The folks 
have been watchin’ you, an’ put us on yo’ track. Come 
“up here to spy round for the gover’mint, did you? Wa’al, 
we'll arn you. Tuck off Bob Edd Sevier last fall, an’’ 
hain’t fotch him back yit. We know you. You’re the 
very man. Keep a sharp lookout down thar’, Tuck, an’ 
we'll hold him here till the other fellers come. Oh, 
you’re putty brash to come back here so soon,’’ he added 
in a lower tone, ‘‘ but we’ll l’arn you.”’ 

‘“What! Do you think I am a revenue officer ?’’ 

‘* Guessed it the fust pop, dinged ef you didn’t.”’ 

‘‘ Well, you were never more mistaken in your life.,’ 

‘“We won’t argy about that. You mout beat mein a 
argyment, fur that isin yo’ line, mebby ; but you kain’t 
tie a rope no better than I kin. ‘Tuck !’’ he shouted, ‘‘I 
hear the boys comin’.”’ 

Now what was to be done? Here was a jury that even 
a plodder could not convince. ‘To stand there and wait 
for daylight meant to hang at sunrise. And an attempt 
to escape might mean death, but to be shot was better 
than to be hanged. He fancied that he heard the other 
men coming down the ravine. He heard Tuck sneeze. 
He remembered that in the growing darkness he had 
noticed that the other side of the ravine was not quite SO 
steep. If he could crawl across he might climb out. He 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. — 25 


got down and began to crawl. It was painful work, over 
the sharp stones. ‘The ravine was not broad, and when 
he had about reached the middle of it he thought that he 
could see a flush in the east. Daylight meant instant 
death. He reached the other side. The wall was almost 
perpendicular. Hecrawled along the edge. There was 
no opening. He was getting closer to Tuck. He heard 
something, the sharp clank of one rock striking another. 
Daylight must be coming, for on the opposite side of the 
ravine, the west side was turning gray. ‘This told that, 
even at early morning the east wall was not high enough 
to shut off the rays of the sun. But it was so high that 
Bryce could not reach the top. He lay close and listened 
and watched. He thought that he saw something move 
on the other side of the ravine. In a second a significant 
truth was made clear. Tuck was crawling up the ravine, 
to be close enough to shoot him, to carry off the honors 
of the chase. ‘‘I could kill the scoundrel,’’ Bryce 
mused. ‘‘ But, I won’t; it would do me no good — mean 
my death, too.’’ He crawled carefully along, halted and 
looked after Tuck. He had disappeared. Thinking that 
it was now safe enough to walk, Bryce arose and, bend- 
ing over, cautiously felt his way along. Daylight was 
surely coming. He could see the tree tops, high up 
against a whitening mist on the west side of the ravine. 
Now he walked rapidly ; now he could run. He sawa 


26 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


break in the wall, but it was on the opposite side. No mat- 
ter, he would cross. He did so and soon he was in a 
gulch that like a great slide-way came down from the 
mountain. He knew that they would follow him and he 
continued to press forward as fast as he could, and by the 
time the sun was fairly ablaze he had reached the mount- 
ain top. His aim now was to reach the river as soon as 
possible, and he sheered off in what he took to be that 
direction. Hesawa cabin, but he gave it a broad go by. 
Later, he came within sight of a rude fence, and he ran 
from it. ‘Thus all day he struggled onward. ‘Toward 
evening he entered another ravine. He had traveled a 
long distance, but whether or not he had been followed 
he had no means of knowing. ‘The bluffs on each side of 
the ravine were rugged and high, but he noticed that 
they could be climbed. ‘The sun had gone behind a rag- 
ged rock-line. Bryce was picking his way along, looking 
for a place wherein to sleep. Hecame to a sort of cave, and 
stood hesitating whether it would be better to go into the 
wolf-den or to sleep under the stars. Suddenly his blood 
seemed to freeze. Down the ravine he saw five men 
slowly walking one behind another. No choice was now 
left him, and he sprang into the mouth of the cave. 
Inside he found a large chamber with uneven walls. The 
cave came to an abrupt end. He felt about, found a 
shelving rock, climbed upon it and lay down. His only 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 27 


hope was that the men might not come into the place, for 


ieee 


it would require but a short 
\ search to discover his hiding- 
_. place. Eagerly, hopefully, 
Tam 


Pi 
xX 


_~\3s~ and then despondently, he 
AON eae 
t WS OS 


eras { listened. They were. 
fo WN Raid 
coming into the cave. 
_ Intheycame, walk- 
‘I \ ing slowly, he 










. a \X\\’ 


\ \ 





\ 


WS 


\\ 








WW Roe could tell from 
i id 3 

LS We AG) NR their tread. 
; » _ni(! . ~S\ 






val WSS Neen The foot- 
wis Ayer —~" 
ys Ss 


iN \ aay) e steps 
SS : Rr ora 
eee 4 ; 


ceased. There was something strange ahout it all. 


Should he risk a peep at them? No; he was afraid to 


28 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


move. What were they doing now? Gods! they were ~ 
praying; but what a prayer. They began to rehearse a 
strange creed, and to implore that the promises made to 
their fathers might be fulfilled. Year after year, genera- 
tion after generation, the will of the Master had been 
obeyed. ‘They had kept the tenets of their faith a holy 
secret from the curious and vulgar world. They reminded 
the giver of their religion that they had just elected five 
of their handsomest maidens, according to the creed 
handed down to them, to serve during three years as the 
Wives of the Prophet—that they had chosen Mary, 
Rachel, Alma, Silvia, and Judith. They knew that these 
maidens should surely find favor in the eyes of the 
Prophet, should he come during the next three years; 
but that no matter when he should come he would find 
that the chosen people of his Father, the Lord, were 
ready to receive him. ‘‘ We know not, O Lord,’’ the 
prayer went on, ‘‘ when it shall be Thy pleasure and Thy 
will to send the Prophet unto us — it may be this day, or 
it may be a hundred years hence, for time is naught 
to Thee — but we do with patience bide Thy time. Nor 
do we know, O Lord, by what sign we are to recog- 
nize Thy special servant, but we know that he will 
bring some unmistakable token. O Lord, we have 
renewed the covenant of our faith, given to our fathers, 
and we beg of Thee to prosper us, not indeed with many 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 29 


numbers, but with contentment, and with minds pure 
in Thy sight.” 

Bryce heard them slowly filing out. The entrance to 
the place darkened, then lightened again. ‘They were 
gone. 


CHAPTER-LY. 


Bryce reached home on a Saturday, but he went not on 
Sunday to hear his friend preach. The sprouting of that 
small seed of reformation had promised much, had 
been a sort of comfort to the lawyer, but now the seed was 
but a dry shell and the sprout was dead. In the young 
man’s mind throbbed a thought, thrilling, wildly deliri- 
ous, and in that thought were the names Mary, Rachel, 
Alma, Silvia, Judith, whirling round and round. He 
had often heard of that strange religious community, and 
he remembered having heard his father say that the hand- 
somest woman he had ever seen was in that village. The 
men and the women of that community had ever been 
looked upon as religious cranks of the most harmless sort; 
they had striven to stir up no commotion, but what a 
commotion they had unconsciously stirred in the breast of 
one human being! And those men knew not what signs 
the Prophet might bring. Was ingenuity, was advent- 
urous passion ever so strongly tempted? 

Several days had passed. Bryce was in his office, not 
lazily leaning on the table, not dreamily gazing, but 

30 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 34) 


almost fiercely walking up and down the apartment. The 
door was slowly opened and Hartley stood there. ‘‘May 
I come in, Howard?” 

“Of course, old fellow. How are you, any way? Sit 
down.”’ 

He sat down. The lawyer continued to walk up and 
down the room. 

‘‘Howard, you stole home so quietly that scarcely any 
one knew that you had returned.’’ 

“Oh, I didn’t blow a trumpet when I got back. 
Neither did I go to a nunnery.”’ 

“Well, what sort of a time had you, where did you go, 
and why did you go in the first place?” _ 

The lawyer smiled. ‘‘I went up the river, had a very 
good time—went because I thought that to get out of 
town for a few days would help me fy 

‘“T’o make an effort,’’ the preacher broke in. 

“Well, yes, you may put it that way.”’ 

‘‘But I don’t want to put it that way unless it’s the 
truth.’’ 

‘Well, then, let us call it the truth.’ 

‘‘T am glad to hear you say that. And now you are 
ready to make the effort. Howard, you have been franker 
with me than you ever have with any one else, so now 
let us get at the secret of—what shall we call it?”’ 

‘“‘Apply your own term, my boy. ‘The priesthood 
should supply its devotees with choice figures of speech.”’ 





S2 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘‘Howard, you come back with the same disposition to 
bandy words. I am deeply interested in you, not so much 
as a preacher but as a friend. I see that you are wasting 
yourself, day by day; I feel that you are putting your 
fine abilities under your feet. I once thought that it was. 
a great misfortune that your parents had not lived to 
see you ripen and grow strong in usefulness to the state 
and to society. I have not thought that of late, and yet 
I don’t exactly know why. You seem to be possessed of 
a strange intellectual shiftlessness; there have been a 
number of times when the putting forth of half your 
strength would have set you high above the plodders, as 
you are wont to term your less gifted acquaintances, but 
with a perverseness that I can not fathom, you have re- 
fused to exercise that strength. You said that upon your 
return you would give mea hearing, but first I want to 
hear from you. You have made certain broken-linked 
confessions to me, have given or sought to give me 
glimpses of your condition of mind. Now tell me the 
whole truth. What is the trouble with you?’’ 

Bryce sat down, carelessly drew another chair toward 
him, placed his feet upon it, remained silent for a few 
moments and then said: ‘‘Hartley, since you have taken 
so serious a view of my case, let me say that I don’t know 
that there is anything so vitally wrong with me. You 
- may say that I am not asuccess as a lawyer. I may 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 30 


grant you this and at the same time remind you that to 
be a successful lawyer is not of itself an achievement high 
up among the virtues. But let all this go. Tell me 
about yourself. What have you done? Have you brought 
any one to believe in your religion, and are you prepared 
to swear that your religion is the right one? All reli- 
gions, you must know, in that they carry a degree of sacri- 
fice, have to a more or less extent the appearance of 
purity. -But what one man may hold as pure, another 
man may condemn as wanton. But there is no religion 
so absurd, so open and palpable a mockery of true reason, 
as not to have among its followers men and women of 
acknowledged ability. Carrying out the faith of a certain 
religion, the most sacred laws of this land may be violated. 
Now, suppose I take up a religion of my own? Suppose 
I say that as Nature has given to man certain physical 
pleasures, it is his duty to seek those pleasures, to practice 
them as a creed? Hecan turn to nature and say, ‘I have 
obeyed your instincts, I have not buried your promptings, 
I have lived as you directed.’ Suppose I should say that 
nature. is voluptuous and that lama voluptuary. You 
can not deny that certain forms of lawful worship, the 
shouting at a mourners’ bench, is a feasting upon emo- 
tion, a sort of mental voluptuousness.”’ 

‘‘Howard, I am further than ever from an understand- 
ing of you. You not only muddy the water and obscure 

3 


34 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


yourself, but obscure me. So now I hardly know what 
I wanted to say.’’ 

‘Don’t say anything to disturb either of us. By the 
way, your marriage is not far off.”’ 

‘‘Next month.’’ 

“And I am listed for best man, I believe.’’ 

‘You know you are.”’ 

‘But I don’t think that I can be there.”’ 

‘“‘What! Why, you have promised.”’ 

‘Yes, but I’ve got to leave town for—well, I don’t 
know how long. I am going to Europe on business. It’s 
a case of must.’’ 

‘In that event I suppose I shall have to excuse you.”’ 

‘Yes, it is a case of must. Get Bentley. -He’s all 
right, you know, since he won his case in the supreme 
court.”’ 

“Don’t taunt me with that, Howard. I merely men- 
tioned his success the other day for the reason that I 
thought you were interested in him.” 

“Oh, Iam. He was always so delightfully stupid. 
You’ve got a regular situation—I mean a regular appoint- 
ment—now, haven’t you?” 

‘Ves, and the people appear to be much pleased with 
me. My hard study is nowcounting forsomething. One 
of these days I expect to have the largest church in the 
state.” 


a) 
er 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


*‘Oh, ambitious, eh?” 

“Yes, for the larger my field, the larger my opportu- 
nities todo good. And my wife will bea great help to me.” 

‘“There’s preacher for you, Hartley. A preacher’s 
wife is always supposed to be a help to him. “As for his 
being a help to her, why that is another question. His 
selfishness is regarded as a devotion to his calling. If 
there’s a sacrifice to be made, his wife must make it. It’s 
the cock saying to the hen, ‘help me scratch up this worm 
and then you may watch me eat it.’ But here, now, 
don’t look at me that way,” he added, getting up and 
placing his hand on the preacher’s shoulder. ‘You know 
that when I begin to talk I never know when to stop and 
never do stop until Ihave gonetoo far. You know that I 
believe you to be wholly unselfish; you know that you 
are the one man in whose honesty I havea firm faith. I 
must go out now, Hartley. I don’t know exactly when 
I shall start for Europe, but I’ll make ita point tosee you 
between now and then.” 

Down the street the lawyer walked alone. He recalled 
every word of the prayer in ‘the cave. He would have 
forgotten a prayer at church. Time and time again he 
asked himself, ‘‘Was ever human passion so strongly 
tempted?” Why had that religion remained a secret 
during so many years and then to be revealed to him? 
Was it providential that he had gone to the mountains, 


36 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


gone really without a cause, to be chased by illicit dis- 
tillers and then to hear that prayer! ‘‘Gods!” he said, 
‘suppose I should go there as the Prophet.” He turned 
into a restaurant, and while sitting there, tasting nothing 
that he ate, he noticed a bright India ink star on the 
back of the waiter’s hand. 

‘‘Who did that?” he asked. 

‘‘Old fellow that lives down on the river. Used to be 
a sailor.” 

‘‘At what particular place by the river does he live?’ 

“In a shanty down at the foot of Broad Street.” 

Bryce went to the old sailor’s shanty. The old 
man wasthere. ‘‘Do you make much of a living by pick- 
ing pictures?” the lawyer asked. 

‘‘Not much of a living, sir, but it’s the best I can do.” 

‘‘Can you pick faces, handsome ones?” 

‘‘As putty as you can find in a book, sir.” 

‘Well, I want five.” 

“You are joking, sir.” 

‘“‘T don’t joke at the expense of a poor man’s living. I 
want five pictures, heads of handsome girls, three on the 
right arm and two on the left. And I want a name 
placed above each one. Can you do that?” 

“T can make the puttyest job you ever seen, sir.”’ 

‘When can you begin?” 

‘‘Now, but you know, sir, that it will take some time,” 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET’. 37 


‘Which means that it will cost something, eh?” 

“Well, you know, sir, that it’s art, and art’s high 
sometimes.” 

‘All right,” said the lawyer, taking off his coat. ‘‘Do 
me a good piece of work, say nothing about it, and I’ll 
pay you more than it’s worth.” 


CHAPTER V. 


The sun had just slanted into the afternoon. The men 
of Bolga were at work in the fields lying about the vil- 
lage ; the women were weaving flax. In the air quaint — 
old songs were floating, songs that might have been 
heard in Cromwell’s camp. The weaving was done in 
one long room. Children were playing about the door. 
A woman came in with a bucket of water. 

‘* Sisters,’’ she said, ‘‘look out at that strange man 
standing in front of the temple.’’ 

‘‘Strangers are more common now than they were 
when I wasa girl.’? an old woman spokeup. ‘‘ I remem- 
ber that during a whole term when I was a Wife of the 
Prophet not an alien soul was seen here.’’ 

‘* But look, sisters,’’ said the first woman, ‘‘see how 
strangely this man acts. He stands there waving his 
arms and they are bare. I will go to the field and tell 
the Father.”’ | 

The Father was hoeing corn not faraway. The woman 
ran to him. 

‘‘ What is it daughter ?’’ he asked. 

38 


re 


-there, Father, with 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 39 


‘‘ Father, the strangest of strange men stands in front 
of the Temple.”’ 

‘Well, but is there any harm in him? Are we not 
here to protect you? 
Go your way, daugh- 
ter. He is some idler 


.. A 
\\ 
x 


K f “ig Norta es 
a i ae WO 
\\ MS SS 


XN 


come to gaze at us.’’ 
‘‘ But he stands 





his arms bare, making 
strange motions.’ 

Pebewill Po back 
with you.”’ 

When they reached 
the plaza, in the cen- 
ter of which the Tem- 
ple stood, they saw #: 
that all the women== a 


A i 
A 

\ \\ 
\\ \N Yi 
AY 





and girls had quitted Saat . Ht 
their work and that = 
some of the most ad- Nae 


venturous of the chil- 





dren had drawn near 
unto the stranger. 
The woman who ac- 
companied the Father fell back, but the old man walked 


40 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


boldly toward the man who had caused this unwonted 
stir. 7 

‘May I inquire,’’ the old man asked, approaching, 

why you have come hither and why you act so strangely? 
If you are in distress, tell me your trouble, and if I can 
relieve you, consistently with what I eS to be right, I 
will do so and send you on your way.’ 

‘‘T am inno trouble, reverend sir,’’ the a Ginas: replied, 
ceasing to make his motions. ‘‘I have been drawn to 
this place. Day and night have I wandered, not know- 
ing which direction to take, but feeling that I was guided. 
And now, reverend sir, I should like to ask you why I 
am here? ’’ 


’ 


‘You speak strangely,’’ said the old man, halting. 
‘Do you not know what induced you to come this way ?”’ 

‘* Not wholly, reverend sir. But it came upon me that 
I was wanted here—came upon me in a most mysterious 
way. Iwas far distant from here when suddenly there 
came a Clap of thunder and a flash of lightning. I fell 
senseless, and when I came to, I felt that somewhere I 
had a sacred duty to perform. And I looked at my arms, 
for they were stinging, and there I found these pictures 
and these names, which must have been drawn by the 
lightning. Come and see for yourself.’’ . 

The Father was now trembling at every joint. He 
tottered forward, caught sight of the pictures and the 


HE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 41 


names, and lifting his hands, he shouted: ‘‘ Ring the 
temple bell !’’ 

‘‘ But, Father!’’ cried awoman who stood near, ‘‘ the 
bell has never been rung, is never to be rung until the 
Prophet is come.’’ 

‘‘Ring, daughter!’’ he shouted, bowing his head. 
“Ring that the brethren may hear. The Prophet is come!”’ 

The woman ran into the temple. The Father and the 
stranger stood with heads bowed. Loud and clear pealed 
forth the bell. And then from the fields the men came 
running. A chant, a strange hallelujah came from the 
awe-stricken group of women. ‘The children in fright 
clung to their mothers. The Father lifted his hands and 
in a loud voice summoned his people into the temple. 
There were whisperings and shrinking back, there were 
exclamations of astonishment. 

‘Chosen people of the Most High!’’ the Father 
shouted, ‘‘ be not afraid, for this day have you seen the 
fulfillment of the promise made to our fathers. Daugh- 
ter,’’ he called, addressing the woman who had come to 
him in the field, ‘‘ command the Wives of the Prophet to 
make ready for the ceremony, for their lord is come.”’ 

Bryce, wretch that he felt himself to be, caught the 
spirit of this excitement. He looked sharply about 
him, and saw that the women were comely—some of 
them at least— and that the men were strong. He was 


42 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


not there to guide, but to submit, to take the part 
assigned him. But why did not the five girls come? 
One of the Councilmen, carrying a dark robe on his arm, 
came to him after conferring with the Father, and said: 
‘‘In the room over there is a place to bathe. When 
you have done that, put on this robe.” 

He entered the room, and the door was closed. The 
bath-tub was of stone, and he sat on the edge, when he 
had taken off his clothes, and mused over the strangeness 
of his situation. ‘The brethren and sisters were singing a 
hymn. Hartley’s sad face came up, but he brushed it 
aside. The enormity of his crime fell damp and cold 
upon him, and he strove to defend himself. Why had the 
revelation been made to him? ‘That was his defence, 
and, lame though it was, yet it satisfied him. He 
bathed and put on the robe. Why were they keeping 
him there so long? A tap atthe door. He stepped out 
into the Temple, and a chant arose. What a transforma- 
tion met his view. ‘The floor was carpeted with roses. 
He looked toward the main entrance and caught his 
breath. There came, walking one behind another, five 
girls, dressed in white, beflowered, beautiful. It 
was his time to act, and he advanced to meet them, 
slowly walking with hands uplifted. The girls joined 
hands and encircled him. Some of them wore lilies, 
others roses in their hair. ‘They stood with heads bowed. 





“fh as8ed “AUOUWI919D SUL 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 43 


He saw their blushes; he caught sight of thrilling eyes. 
The chant was hushed. ‘The Father approached. Bryce 
looked up. He was standing in front of an altar. Now 
the Father spoke. His deep words trembled from his 
lips. Bryce could not remember what he said ; he caught 
but the meaning of a word here and there. The ceremony 
was simple and was soon over. ‘There he stood, among 
his wives, shaking hands with the men and women who 
shyly came forward to greet him. He was glad that they 
looked upon him simply as a man. After all the real 
Prophet was to come — to come from among his offspring. 
Now the ranks were broken ; there was no further cere- 
mony. The mothers and the fathers of the Wives wept over 
their daughters, but in their tears there was no sadness. 
Bryce stood talking to the men. How sincere, how 
devout they were. How far back into the past he had 
been thrust he knew not. How strange a gathering ; 
how marvelous a belief to exist at the electro-glaring end 
of the nineteenth century. How ruling is a faith; how 
it blinds reason, blots out incredulity. . 

‘*VYou must instruct me,’’ Bryce said to the Father. 

‘* All that you need to know you shall know in time. 
You, like the rest of us, are simply an instrument. You 
-are indeed to be one of us, obeying our laws as we 
obey them. The only privileges which you possess 
are those conferred by your marriage. We do not 


44 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


practice polygamy; that is forbidden except to the 
Prophet: 

‘“Vou call me the Prophet, Father, and it may be well, 
but before coming here I had no thought of being a 
prophet. But those pictures, and a peculiar influence 
that came upon me, taught me that I was destined for 
something. I am not as yet fully acquainted with our 
creed, but you will find me a faithful servant.’’ 

‘You know enough, my brother. Ah! how we have 
waited ; and how our fathers and grandfathers waited. 
But you have come at last; and now shall arise the 
Savior of man, not to be despised, but at the proper time 
to be proclaimed a king. Then we shall march away in 
triumph to declare the glory of the one Great Father, to 
view the offer of true salvation unto man.’’ 

Now they were making preparations for the feast, and 
a simple feast it was to be. Strong, clear-cut features 
showed that gluttony was not a part of this religion, and 
vigor proved that neither was undue self-denial of food a 
feature of it. Tables, swiftly but not jarringly made of 
trusses and long boards—tables reminding one of old 
pictures of the Last Supper — were placed by light-footed 
men, spread by graceful women, and rose-strewn by girls. 
Chairs, stools and benches were brought. Bryce noticed 
that there was one table smaller and more profusely dec- 
rated than the rest. He was standing near this table 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 45 


when the Father said to him: ‘‘Sit you there at the 
right.’? And then he added: ‘‘ Come, Councilmen and 
Wives, sit here with the guest which the Lord has sent 
unto us.”’ 

When they were all seated, and when the Father had 
pronounced a short but impressive blessing, Bryce re- 
marked: ‘‘ Father, a flash from the clouds threw to me 
the names of my wives, but as yet I am unacquainted 
with the personality of those names.” 

“True, brother. ‘T'o your right sits Alma, to her right 
is Mary. Over here is Rachel; there near Councilman 
Trent is Judith, and to my left is Silvia.” 

Bryce bowed to each one and muttered something. Was 
he in Fairy Land? Could all this be real? From the 
society which he had known could there have been gath- 
ered such grace of form? Eyes that had never been dimmed 
by a moment of dissipation, complexion fresh from the pure 
air of the mountains, lips that shared the secret of the 
red-bud tree—purity’s unconscious sacrifice. The soft 
color of the earliest glow of sun-rise met his view as his 

eyes followed the nod of the Father as he called the 
| names, and though the Father and the Councilmen could 
see naught save devotion to duty, this young man from 
the world thought that he caught a glimpse of a sweet 
mischief. He could not stare, but how drinking, how 
eager was his swift look from one to another. He noticed 


46 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


Alma’s neck, the silk-like hair looped up from it and 
pinned with a rose-bud. Hesaw the proud look of a 
woman at another table and he knew that she was Alma’s 
mother, knew that this woman’s pride in life had been to 
see her daughter a Wife of the Prophet. 

‘‘Did you ever expect that I should come?’’ he asked 
in alow tone, and Alma answered: ‘‘ We were taught 
to pray for your coming.”’ 

‘‘T hope you are not disappointed in me.”’ 

‘The Lord would not send us a disappointment.’’ 
She gave him a full view of her eyes as she said this; and 
the word that shot through his brain was—‘“ glorious,’’ 

‘“ No, he would not have sent a disappointment, for you 
were ready to accept His choice, but suppose I had come 
a wrinkled old man, would you have been as pleased with 
me?’’ He asked this in a whisper, and in a whisper she 
answered, ‘‘ No.’’ 

Emotion clogged his mind, and but little of what fol- 
lowed remained in his memory. Lamps were brought 
and he knew that evening was come. A chant arose and 
swelling into great volume, floated to the mountains and 
then softened, etherialized, seemed to float back into the 
temple. The Father and the Councilmen gathered about 
the altar, and the Father, standing in the midst of them, 
preached a sermon. A strong wind must have come, for 
one of the heavy doors slammed; and the blaze of a lamp 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 47 


leaped up and died in the darkness. ‘The preaching was 
done. The Father and the Councilmen approached Bryce 
who was still sitting at the table with his wives. 

‘‘ Brother,’’ said the Father, ‘‘I know not what your 
name has been, but now it is Joseph.”’ 

Bryce bowed and thus replied: ‘‘ Your willis mine.’’ 
But he could not help but think of the inappropriate per- 
versity of the name. He would have been the last man 
to leave a garment in the hands of a voluptuous tempter. 

‘* Brother,” said the Father, ‘‘ we will now conduct you 
and your wives to your home, the house prepared for you 
by our fathers. Come.”’ 

Another song arose, and now in the dim light he saw 
one eager, hard and disappointed face. A young man 
approached and was gazing at Alma. But that face was 
soon forgotten 

When they entered the Prophet’s home, Bryce found 
himself in a large circular room, lighted by a single lamp, 
swung from the ceiling. The floor was of stone; the 
walls were white. He noticed five closed doors about the 
circle, and one door to the right standing ajar. To this 
latter room he was conducted. It was meagerly furnished 
with two chairs and a table, but no bed. 

Sit you here,” “said. the Father. . °° We return 
to the temple to pray for guidance. Remain until 
I come.” 


48 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


Bryce heard the opening and the closing of the other 
doors. What anuptual night! He was tremulous. And 
he wondered how it all was to be arranged, but would 
ask no question. 

There was no lamp in this room, and save for the dim 
glimmer of lightning on the narrow window panes, light- 
ning that came from the far west, the room was in black- 
est darkness. There was a low rumble of thunder as 
though a mountain gorge were growling. Bryce got up; 
he could sit no longer. He thought ofa sister who had 
blessed him with her dying breath. ‘‘God Almighty! 
can she see me now?” he almost cried. Cold perspiration 
broke out upon him. ‘‘ You are a fool,” he said to 
himself 

There was a tap at the door. His blood leaped. 
‘Come in.’’? ‘The Father was in front of him. The old 
man whispered one word and then stood, pointing. 





tip 
lis 


a 
" Geli 


A) ES GP i/{1// i 
i a | AY Z a Wf Wl Vt 


Uae 





























a= 


eS 


= 


= Ss 

= 

7 

i 
= 2S Ss 
== = Ss 

——— ze 

* 5 
= —S= 
SSS 


a = 
=> PSS tre 
5 


WN 
i 










































































ts, ee 


CHAT THRE. 


Morning dawned with dewy freshness. The night had 
been wild, but all that was now left of that wildness was 
the louder gurgle of the streams that poured down from 
the higher mountains far away. With the first over- 
pouring of light from the sun, a mocking-bird flew to the 
roof of the Prophet’s house and trilled his thankfulness 
for a day so lavish in its splendor; and a cat-bird, less 
majestic in range, but almost as melodious, sang his 
praise in a syringa bush. The white spirea was in 
bloom, holding up its bridal wreath, and the rich scent of 
the calacanthus was mingled with the sunshine. The 
village was early astir, and a long horn that hung on the 
wall of the weavers’ room was taken down and blown 
with a throbbing blast. Breakfast was ready. ‘There 
were several dining-rooms, and families, as nearly as was 
convenient, were expected to eat together. The cooking 
was done in one large kitchen. The Prophet’s dining- 
room was but a short distance from his dwelling. A long 
table was spread there, and any one was privileged to eat 
with him. ‘The other Wives, together with the Father 
and Councilman Trent, were seated at the table when 

50 











oa Tie 
Se 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 51 


Bryce and Alma entered the room. ‘There was a flutter: 
among the giris and a low mysterious whispering, which 
the Father reproved by a glance, and.Alma, knowing 
that she was looked upon with curious concern, blushed 
under their attention. 

‘“Brother Joseph,” said the Father, ‘‘ here are places 
for you and our daughter. We have waited for you.’’ 


“‘IT hope that you have not waited beyond a time of 


easy paitetce,”’ Bryce replied. 


“Oh, no; we have just sat down. See how beautiful 
the morning is,” the Father added, waving his hand 
toward the door. ‘‘ We can read a promise in its light 
and stillness. But at one time during the night we were 
threatened by a destructive storm. It was the lesson of 
life — the greatest good sometimes follows the appearance 
Orevil:’2 

‘‘Father,” said Bryce, ‘‘ You must tell me what I am 
expected to do; how I am'to deport myself.” 

“You will pick that knowledge mainly from observa- 
tion. But of course Iam willing to instruct you. We 
might say that you are the only convert that we have ever 
gathered from the world, and you were sent to us. Some 
time you must tell us how your early life was spent, but 
we shall have time enough for it all. To the vulgar, ours 
is a strange religion —all religions have at one time been 
strange to the vulgar— but the time is not far distant 


= “ie as ae = os 
ety 


52 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


when the vulgar mind shall be purified. ‘To-day you will 
take an oath, and then you shall know what your imper- 
ative duties are. ‘There are many things, however, that 
we can discuss openly, that 1s among ourselves, but 
amidst strangers you must keep absolute silence with 
regard to our creed. You must be careful in your read- 
ing ; not that worldly books are so harmful to one whose 
mind is rightly set, but that it would be time thrown 
away. But good books are at all times to be commended. 
True rhetoric is the voice of God; therefore, strive to 
speak as becomes a godly man, the chosen seed, the pro- 
pagator of one who is to offer salvation unto man. And 
these precious daughters you are to treat as though they 
were flowers from a holy garden, and they are to look 
upon you as their master. They are to love you and to 
obey you; and you must remember that it is the nature 
of woman to be petted. The little worries of a pretty 
head are to be soothed.” 

‘Father, you spoke of my sharing your labors. What 
labor am I to perform, and when am I to begin?” 

‘“‘OQur men work in the field, and by turns teach 
our school. But work in the field is more of a needed 
exercise than a labor. We do not believe in wearing out 
the body merely to gather wealth ; our wants are but few 
and are easily supplied. Nearly everything we need is 
grown here. We raise sheep, and our clothes are woven 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 53 


here. Weaving is hard work, but no woman is forced to 
weave more than one day a week.’’ 

‘Would that the whole world were so well governed,” 
Bryce replied. ‘‘But tell me, do the laws of the state 
interfere With you ?” 

‘‘As far as the law knows us,’’ said the old man, 
‘“we are the children of meekest obedience. The con- 
stable never comes hither, and by courtesy we are excused 
from jury duty.” 

‘“That courtesy is apparent,’ Bryce replied. ‘‘ A jury 
selected from among you would be too intelligent, too 
justice-loving. One clod on a jury—and they must 
always have a clod — would muddle eleven Isaac New- 
tons.” 

‘‘Joseph, you speak as one who knows.”’’ 

‘Why not, Father? I was gathered from the world.”’ 

Bryce now had an opportunity to study not only the 
faces of his wives, but to place an estimate upon the 
Father and upon Councilman Trent. The belle who has 
left the ball-room late at night does not look so well at the 
breakfast table, but these girls were as fresh as the flowers 
that grew near the door. Their beauty winced not even 
in the sun-light. The type was nearly uniform, the grace 
of health, the perfection of skin, of teeth, of eyes. But of 
course he could see certain differences. Mary was a 
blonde, and Judith’s hair was intensely black, but the 


54 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


smooth oval of the face was the same. He wondered if 
they were all alike as to character; whether they pos- 
sessed a hidden individuality that at some time might 
show itself. ‘‘ All women are the same,’’ he mused, 
‘‘and yet how widely different.’’ 

The Father was exceedingly tall, proudly straight and 
with character marked on every feature. His nose was 
large and thin; his hair had never been cut, and his beard 
was long and grizzled, His eyes were dark, with a be- 
nevolent warmth in them, and yet they were sharp and 
questioning. He looked like the ruler of rude men, stub- 
born if needs be, but just and sincere. ‘Trent was shorter, 
fleshier and without question, lazier. 

‘* After breakfast,” said the Father, ‘‘ you may go to 


the warehouse and select a suit of clothes to fit you, and. 


then you would better walk about and make yourself ac- 
quainted with your surroundings. You are not to cut your 
hair or to shave again. Asa rule we are not antiquated, 
but we insist that no man shall shave. We care naught 
for the world, as the world now is, but you must have ob- 
served that our speech is not materially different from the 
speech of other men. ‘There is a reason for this, for when 
the time for us to leave this village shall come, we do not 
wish to go back into the world as strangers in speech. 
And that is one of the reasons why we encourage the 
reading of good books. But do not -give me credit for 








ate a i i a ec ea ars 
weal pes wre pf ‘ sl . 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 55 


this.” Bryce had looked admiringly at him. ‘‘It was 
practiced by-our grandfathers.” 

‘“Am I permitted to smoke?” 

‘*Ves, pipes; but naught else. That which the Lord 
in his graciousness has inspired to grow out of our soil, 
We permit our people to use.” 

‘While I was of the world,’”’ said Bryce, ‘‘I was fond 
of coffee. Would the drinking of it now be in opposition 
to your rule?” 

‘“Decidedly. Coffee does not grow out of our soil.” 

‘* But is it not consistent to drink whisky? Corn grows 
out of our soil.” 

‘“And a bludgeon grows out of our soil, but shall we 
sieze it and with it crush a brother’s skull?” Hereupon 
Councilman Trent gave a triumphant grunt, but the 
Father, averse to an applause that might mean the 
embarrassment of their new brother, cast upon the Council- 
man a look of mild reproof. 

_ A few moments of silence followed. ‘‘ Father,” Bryce 
asked, ‘‘when shall I appear at the temple to take the 
oath?” 

‘* At the setting of the sun.” 

Immediately after breakfast Bryce was shown to the 
warehouse, where he selected a suit of clothes, a long coat, 
knee breeches, thick cotton stockings and buckles made 
of horn. His hat was ofrye-straw and his shirt was made 


56 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


of the strongest and plainest linen. And he felt rather 
proud of his shapely legs when again he stepped out in 
full view of his wives, and he saw by their smiles and 
their nods that his new dress had awakened a fresh ad- 
miration. The men were now gone tothe field, and Bryce 
heard the bump, bump of the looms in the weaving rooin. 
He looked about him, at the clean stone houses, the turf- 
grown, path-streaked plaza, the temple with its heavy 
brow, the great old English elms that many years ago 
had been set out in picturesque contempt of regularity— 
at the four high, wooded-and graceful hills that arose from 
the corners of the broad field. How wise had been the 
selection of this basin, for although in the mountains it 
was sheltered from the cold winds. ‘The fruit was rarely 
killed in the spring, and during the hottest weather of 
mid-summer the grass remained green. But for a moment 
this beauty, this harmony, this gracious smile of nature, 
smote him with a keen remorse. Would that he could 
have come hither as a real brother, as a sincere and vir- 
tuous man. He heard light foot-steps and turning saw 
Judith approaching with the charm of a timid draw-back 
in her manner. Remorse was gone. 


9 


‘“T am going with you,’’ she said. 
‘‘ Are you, sweet creature ?”’ 
A. blush was her reply. ‘‘ Where are we to go?’ he 


asked. 





Ne De Cy ee in ee es Oe} bus ret SS oe eae AP oe 
> > es ‘ ae a SW ee ey oar ? . ~ a . e" . h ~. 
Pets Sen Pa oes ult < : ~ 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 57 


‘Whither you may direct. I can show you the woods 
and the flowers. But the creek is muddy and we can’t 
see the fish.”’ 

“But I know that anything you show me will be beau- 
tiful.’’ 

She looked up at him and there was mischief in her 
eyes. ‘‘ Was flattery inspired, or does it come from the 
world ?”’ she asked. 

“Truth may come from the world, sweet one, and yet 
have been inspired. Let us walk over there,’’ he added, 
pointing toward the west hill. ‘‘ Will you take my arm ?”’ 


LS 


‘‘T am to show you and you are not to show me,’’ she 
laughed. ‘They had walked some distance, side by side, 
when she said: ‘‘I can beat you running.’’ 

‘What!’ he spoke up in surprise. ‘‘ That would be 
undignified ; wouldn’t it ?”’ | 

‘No; not if you run gracefully. Ican run faster than 
nearly any of the boys in the village ; and I was almost 
sorry when I had to stop playing fox.”’ 

‘* But why did you stop ?”’ 

‘Because I became a Wife of the Prophet.’’ 

‘‘Oh! And you have one cause for regret ?”” 

‘*TIt is hardly a regret.’’ 3 

“* How old are you, Judith ?”’ 

‘*T shall be nineteen next month.”’ 


‘‘You have never been away from home, have you?”’ 


i 





58 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘‘Qh, yes; I have been over to the rivera number of 
times, and once when I was very small I went away over 
to Knoxville.”’ 

‘“Why did you go so far as that ?”’ 

‘‘T went with the men who took the linen to market. 
Oh, and it was the longest journey in the world, I 
thought. Have you ever been there ?”’ 

‘* Yes, and in hundreds of other places.’’ 

‘* Yonder is the creek,’’ she said. 

They were now skirting the base of the west hill. The 
ground was gently rolling. Summer had just begun to 
fulfill the gorgeous promises of spring. ‘The fire-bush, 
under the flutter of a bird, threw down a lip-like bloom, 
and a lubberly owl, frightened out of his morning nap, 
sent down a pearl-like shower from the white-laced top of 
a wild plum tree. A wily old quail, pretending to be 
desperately wounded, fluttered in the path until her 
young ones had hidden themselves in the grass; anda 
gaunt rabbit, with his thin ears spectral in the sun’s 
strong light, sought safety on the knoll where the man- 
drakes grew. 

‘* Here is the creek, and it is not so muddy as I thought 
it would be,” said the girl ; and without giving him time 
to reply she ran on ahead and seated herself on a rock at 
the brink of the stream. He followed, laughing, and 
plucking a flower he handed it to her as he seated him- 


GE Se san ee 
sons hn a 2h NE eae rv 


Py i ar 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 59 


self on the rock close beside her. The stream, swift from 
the higher lands, had shrunken from its flood-line, and 
by the slightest tarnish of its sheen held but a reminder 
of last night’s storm. From far below, where the water 
poured upon a hollow rock, came a musical, echoing 
roar, changing in tone with the stir of the gentle wind, 
now almost hushed, now loud and resounding. They 
were under the shade of a beech tree, just above a point 
where two long lines of sycamores ended. In front of 
them were the rolling woods, through which they had 
passed ; and back of them, far away, was a wild jolt of 
country, a great bluff and a tumble of rocks.?’ 

‘What sort of books have you read?” he asked. 

“Books that you might laugh at,” she answered. 
‘“Some of them have been very dull, with long words 
without music in them, but some of them have been 
sweet with the perfume of flowers. 

‘* Were any of them stories of love ?” 

‘No!’ she answered, looking at him in surprise. 
‘‘Love, we think, is too sacred to be put into a book.” 
Her hands, holding the flower, were clasped in her lap. 
He put his hand upon them, and she caught her breath 
with sudden quickness. 

‘‘Did you ever read of sailors cast away at sea, of 
people thrown upon strange islands?” He was thinking 
now of the India ink pictures on his arms. 


~Aet 
-. 


60 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘‘We have no such books,” she answered. 

He noticed a young man walking a short distance 
below on the opposite shore, and he thought that he 
remembered having taken a closer look at his face, and 
he asked: “‘ Who is that?” 

‘‘ Benjamin, the son of Councilman Blake. I will tell 
you something if you’ll promise not to say anything 
about it.’’ 

‘*T-promise. * , 

‘Well, he is Rachel’s brother, and was engaged to 
marry Alma.” 

‘‘’Then he must hate me. I remember how hard he 


looked at me yesterday evening.” 


‘Hate you? Howcan he hate you? Was it not the 


will of the Lord that you should be taken from the world 
and placed among us; and was it not ordained that you 
were to be the husband of the Wives? He can’t hate 
you.” 

‘‘ When were he and Alma to be married ?” 

‘*’They were to have been married last fall, but Alma’s 
mother begged her, and then the council commanded her 
to wait, until after the new election of the Wives. I won- 
der if he is coming over here? No; he has turned off 
into the woods.’’ 

‘‘T am sorry for him. He took it greatly to heart, 


didn’t he ?” 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 61 


**He said nothing. How could he?” 
**But Alma — did she appear to grieve over it? 


) 


“You ought to know,” she answered, turning her face 
from him. 

“ But I don’t know. Was she grieved ?” 

‘““Who among us would decline to be a Wife of the 

Prophet?’ she simply remarked. 
** But that is not answering my question.’’ 

“I don’t think,” she said, ‘‘ that Alma loved him very 
much. Would it relieve youif I were to say that I know 
she did not?”’ 

“Well, yes, as I am far from desiring to bring trouble 
to the breast of any one.”’ 

‘“Would you beso much concerned about me?’’ she 
asked, looking him full in the eyes. 

‘*T could say more, but I shall say only yes. Judith, 
you must know that you are a beautiful creature.’’ 

‘“You must not.talk to me that way.. You were sent 
to us, but you are simply a man, selected from among a 
world of men, and although I am a Wife of the Prophet, 
yet I am strongly human. I am no doll; I am a woman.”’ 

‘‘Judith, suppose that I were to tell you that I love 
you deeper than I love any of the others.”’ 

‘‘Oh, if you could tell me that and tell the truth, it 
would make my heart blaze—but what am I saying? We 
must not talk this way. But Ido want to be loved by 


62 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


you, for to me you are 
beautiful and your 
words are as music.” 
She looked at him, 
and this man who had 
made himself a master 
of innocent hearts, a 
thief in virtue’s home, 
blushed under her 
gaze. But he put his 
arms about her and 


pressed her head to his _//Haagig' | 
bosom. She made no | 
effort to restrain him.” | 


Was he not her hus- 
band? Had not the 


religion of her fathers ~.\ 


sanctified their mar- 
riage? He looked 
down at her ringletted 
black hair,at her beau- 
tiful neck so soft and 
white—her head bent 
slowly further back- 
ward, she put up her 
arms—their lips met, 
warm and throbbing. 















LZ FBFSEE: 
ZZ 
ss = = 









a 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 63 


A shrill whistle startledthem. Benjamin had come out 
of the woods, and was standing on the opposite shore a 
short distance down the stream. 





‘‘Heis keeping watch of us,” said Bryce. ‘‘I shall 
ask the Father if this fellow z 
‘No, you must not,” she quickly broke in. ‘‘ We 


must pay no attention to him. Oh, look where the sun 
is. It is nearly dinner time and we must go back to the 
village.” 

As they were walking back to the village he asked: 


” 





‘* Were your people 

‘‘Our people,” she interrupted, correcting him. 

‘“Well, then,” he went on, ‘‘were our people never 
afraid that a false prophet might come?” 

“Why, no. How could a false prophet come? How 
was he to know anything about our religion?” 

Could she have read his thoughts at that moment, she 
would have seen these words: ‘‘ How blinder than a 
bat in the sun-light is human faith. How much proof, 
and how much argument are required in a court of law, 
and yet in spiritual things how thin a pretext can pass 


-as a God-sent truth.”’ 


‘‘Tf you care to walk so far,’ she said, ‘‘ we will go 
over to the Witch Hole after dinner. But it is nearly five 
miles from home.” 

‘‘ What sort of a place is it?” 


64 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘*Tt is a broad and deep hole away down the creek, 
within sight of the place where the creek empties into the 
river. And I don’t suppose that there’s any place in the 
river that is half so deep. I heard the Father say that his 
grandfather took a large rock and Jet it down more than 
a hundred and fifty feet with a rope and found no bottom. 
And you must not say anything about this, but a long 
time ago, one of the brothers went crazy and drowned 
himself there. No, not exactly there, but just above 
there. Probably he thought the water there was too deep 
for him. Please don’t tell Alma or any of the others 
what we have talked about.’ 

‘‘Not a word. . What you have said to me is 
sacred,’’ 

When they entered the dining room, they found the 
other Wives, Councilman Blake and his son Benjamin 
already seated at the table. The Councilman was a 
hearty, bluff old fellow, with a resonant voice; he made 
broad gestures when he talked, and was fond of talking. 
Bryce had seen young Benjamin’s hard and eager gaze, 
had seen him idly skulk along the creek, and had fancied 
that he must at all times be a clown with a sullen brow. 
But he now found that his estimate was wrong, that the 
young man was of strong and attractive mold, with eyes 
that could appear frank as well as eager, and with a 
countenance that bespoke determination. 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 65 


‘We hope,’’ said the Councilman, ‘‘that you hada 
pleasant time, and that you are pleased with your sur- 
roundings. But it will no doubt take you some time to 
become accustomed to your changed condition. It is 
true that I know but little of the world, but I can well 
imagine what it is to be taken from a busier life and set 
down here in this never broken quiet.’’ 

““Oh, I should think that he would be delighted,”’ 
Benjamin spoke up. ‘‘ We have often heard of people 
who became so tired of the world that in order to get out 
of it they killed themselves; but I cannot fancy that one 
would like to leave this place.”’ 

“Benjamin is right,’’ Bryce replied. ‘‘I never knew 
what peace was until this holy religion was made known 
tore,” 

“‘I am glad to hear you thus express yourself,’’ the 
Councilman rejoined. ‘‘Indeed, everything connected 
with your coming has been most befitting. You came 
without pretense, as one who desired to be taught. With 
us, you must know, prophet does not mean one who is 
inspired, but one directed. You have a mission, and that 
mission does not depart from a human agency ; you were 
not expected to foretell events but to wait for events. 
You have had one privilege, aside from your marriage, 
which has not been granted to anyone else: you have 
been permitted to discuss, and to hear discussed, our 


5 





66 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


faith, without having taken the oath of creed, but that 
oath was implied. You must have indeed felt strange 
when those images and those names were flashed upon 
your arms. They could have come from no place but the 
clouds. Not far from here, many years ago, I have 
heard, a man was struck by lightning while standing 
under a tree, and when they were dressing him for burial 
they found upon his breast a picture of the tree drawn. by 
the lightning. This was a marvel at the time; but how 
much greater marvel to one, who does not understand, 


are the pictures and the names drawn upon your flesh. 


But to the chosen few it is simple — the fulfillment of a 
promise. When you came, to restrain undue curiosity 
among the women and children was impossible ; but you 
have doubtless noticed that since then there has been no 
embarrassing attention bestowed upon you.”’ 

‘* Brother,’? said Bryce, “‘I have never seen such 
modesty, such refinement, such taste.’’ 

‘‘It was the grace of courteous restraint,’’ Benjamin 
remarked. ‘‘Undue enthusiasm is a human weakness. 
Nature’s work, with God standing back of it, is orderly, 
except when nature destroys, and then there is fury.” 

Bryce looked at him and wondered what must be pass- 
ing through his mind, what hidden fire had shot forth 
this blaze. Had their simple school taught him thus to 
express himself? Could he think thus swiftly and yet 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 67 


put faith in so unreasonable a creed ? But reason halts at 
the threshold of creed. Even within hearing of the wild 
roar of trade, men, who would have reasoned with a 
Plato, view in ecstacy the trickster’s slate-scratching, 
and hear with emotion the senseless rapping under a 
table. * 

‘“ After dinner,’’ said Judith, ‘‘we are going over to 
Witch Hole.’ 

Alma looked up and her dark eyes grew darker. 
‘“Why go so far?’ she asked. ‘‘Is there no seclusion 
nearer the village?” 

‘“‘We were not looking for seclusion, but for places of 
interest,’’ Judith replied. 

““We!’* Alma repeated, and she spoke with such stress 
that the Councilman looked at her. And now Benjamin 
could not hide a frown. 

‘“ Tt is most too far to walk unless one sets out earlier,’’ 
said the Councilman. ‘‘ Brother Joseph may not be used 
to such exertion. Our daughters, Brother,’’ he added, 
‘‘are strong. The lacings, and the unnatural artifices 
with which some women distort themselves, are unknown 
here. In the town, whither we go to sell our linen, I have 
seen women girdled and squeezed almost to breathlessness, 
and shod in a most cramped and painful way — the appli- 
ances of Satan made to shorten life and restrict useful- 
ness. Brother, the circular room of the Prophet’s house 


68 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


has been fitted up for a place to sit in during the warm 
hours of the day and evening. And there we may often 
tneet and hold profitable converse.’’ 

“Then let such of us as may desire meet there this 


9) 


afternoon,’’ said Bryce. who fancied that he saw a storm- 
cloud gathering. Alma gave him a grateful look, and 
Benjamin frowned again. Judith lifted not her eyes ; her 


face was scarlet. 


SHARP TE ROViT: 


After dinner, Bryce lighted a pipe, and going out to an 
elm tree, lay down on the soft sward. He dozed off to 
sleep and he dreamed of his office in the city. He looked 
at his book shelves and there were great volumes labeled 
Treachery, Infamy, Falsehood, Cowardice, Villainy. He 
looked out through the door, and walking past were the 
friends who had flattered him, but now they reviled him. 
Among them was a graceful girl and she alone halted in 
front of the door; and there she stood with her hands 
covering her face. He wondered who she could be. Her 
raiment was white, gauzy as a mist and it flowed in waves 
about her, although the atmosphere seemed dead. ‘The 
mockers continued to pass but they jostled her not; in- 
deed, their countenances when they turned them upon 
her, showed a deep and passionate sorrow. Suddenly 
she removed her hands from her face. His sister! He 
sroaned aloud, and some one touched him. He awoke 
with a start. Judith sat beside him. 

“Oh, you frightened me,’’ she said. ‘You must have 
had an awful dream. Your face was horror stricken and 
you groaned so loud.’’ 

69 


_ l pam, eee he ae 
ee * vm 


70 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET 


‘Yes,’ he said, sitting up, ‘‘I dreamed that you had 


fallen into the Witch Hole and that I had jumped in after 


you, but that you had gone down and I could not find 
you.”’ 
“You must not dream such things. There is company 


in our house and I have come after you.”’ 


In the center of the circular room were placed chairs, 


and rugs made of coon skins, and there was a sort of 
divan made of twisted hickory saplings and covered with 
a bright purple cloth, colored*with dye stuffs gathered in 
the woods. ‘The Father was sitting on this divan and 


when Bryce entered he moved over and said: ‘‘Brother ~ 
: f 


Joseph, sit you here-beside me.”’ 

Bryce obeyed. There were present the five Wives, sev- 
eral Councilmen and two women who had just come from 
the weaving room. How clean every one looked, and 
how attractively the women were dressed, how graceful 
they were in their easy gowns. And while white prevailed, 
yet any one among the women was permitted to dress in 
colors. ‘The colors, too, were tasteful and harmonious. 
Alma now wore a scarlet cap, while Rachel wore a robe 
purpled with the juice of the elderberry. 

The Father, noticing that Bryce looked from one to 
another, remarked: ‘‘You see that we are not cramped 
by a dull uniformity, Colors come from our soil and they 
belong to us. We simply.insist that becoming modesty 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 71 


shall govern everything. * Cleanliness is one of our laws. 
There is a public bath just beyond the Temple, and 
everyone, upon coming from work, is expected to bathe. 
Brother, where were you born?’’~ And without hesitating 
a moment, Bryce answered: ‘‘In Devonshire, England.’’ 

“Tt is well’”’ said the father. ‘‘And were you in that 
country when you first were influenced to turn your steps 
in this direction?’ ’ 

“‘T felt a strange yearning to come to America, but not 
until some time after I reached here did the influence fall 
strong upon me. I was in the State of Missouri, gradu- 
ally making my way hitherward when the lightning 
’ threw the pictures upon me. After that I was strongly 
urged, almost impelled in this direction.’’ — 

“In earlier life what calling had you thought to follow?’ ’ 

‘At an early age I fancied that I had been called upon 
to preach, but when I sought to make a selection I found 
that I knew not what form of religion to embrace.’’ 

“But you know now.”’ 

“Ves, for all things, I might say, have been made 
clear, 3 

“Yea, and you are to preach—we all preach. Regular 
services are held in the Temple every Sabbath, a day 
which to the world means Saturday. Silvia, my dear,°can 
you not sing for us?”’ 

‘‘T am hoarse to-day, Father,”’ the girl answered. 





~I 
bo 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘“‘Brother,’’ said the Father smiling, ‘‘by right of blood 
she thinks that she has a privilege to quibble with me. 
She is the daughter of my body as well as the daughter 
of my creed; she is my only child. She was ambitious 
of course, to become a Wife of the Prophet, but I strove 
to discourage her, fearing that my advocacy might have 
the appearance of a worldly partiality, but the voice of 
the Council elected her. She is young and has much to 
learn, and I therefore beg of you to be patient with her.”’ 

‘‘She is sweet, pure and modest,’’ Bryce replied, bow- 
ing, ‘‘and the Divine Master could not give to a woman 
three graces more becoming.”’ 

How easy and how free was this company. ‘The girls 
talked among themselves and their talk was of the trivial 
thing that concern the young, yet the Father sat there a 
religious ruler, an autocrat of a creed and turned not the 
cold eye of discouragement upon their mirth. And in 
this how different he was from the average human who 
feels that he holds in sacred keeping the keys and the 
seals of spiritual affairs. Bryce hinted at this and the 
old man remarked: ‘‘A severe countenance is not a com- 
munication from God, while laughter might bespeak His 
holy presence. If God is always frowning, why have 
we flowers and streams that flash and sing in the sun- 
light? Man must guard against trivial things, it is true; 
but good humor is not trivial—it is the voice of health.” 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 73 


Bryce looked at him and wondered what must have 
been the line of his tolerant ancestry. Through many a 
gentle generation must his blood have been filtered; and 
how strange it was that a man so resourceful in the field 
of homely reason should not turn upon his own faith and 
wither it. And yet he knew men who lived in a city, 
who read under the electric light, who heard the phonc- 
graph sing—college bred men, who were just as blind in 
their acceptance of acreed. He thought of the absurdi- 
ties of the early christians, who are saints now, how they 
scourged* themselves; of the learned professors at early 
Oxford who urged the belief that the world could last but 
a few years longer. So, after all, in the light of the 
world’s universal inconsistency, all creeds were consistent. 

The afternoon wore on pleasantly and when the shadow 
of the west hill had fallen upon the sward where the 
children were playing, when a blast from the horn that 
hung on the wall of the weavers’ room had echoed back 
from the far-off mountain where the rocks lay in a tumble, 
the Father arose and said: ‘‘ Joseph, with you I shall go 
to supper, and then with me you will go to the temple, 
there to receive the oath.”’ 

The meal was deliberate with talk and with a song 
from Silvia who had repented her earlier refusal; and 
when they came out, darkness had fallen upon the land. 
The four Councilmen were outside, waiting for Joseph and 


74. THE WIVES Of THE PROPHET. 


the Father. The air was still. Out of some great and 
forever dark gorge of the mountains a silence seemed to 
have come, brooding its way to the village and there to 
settle, even to deaden the evening chirrup of nature. 

None save the candidate, the Father and the Council- 
men was to be present at the ceremony. ‘The Father took 
Bryce by the right hand, Councilman Trent took him by 
the left, and thus, slowly walking, they conducted him to 
the temple. ‘There was no idle gathering to gaze at them; 
the plaza was deserted; the people were in their houses, 
praying. ‘There was but a single light in the*village, a 
small lamp carried by Councilman Blake. ‘They entered 
not under the portico, but went through a small door 
which Bryce had not before noticed. He was conducted 
into a room, small and hung in black. Councilman Blake 
placed the lamp upon an altar, and then every one sank 
upon his knees, all save Councilman Trent who had dis- 
appeared. Suddenly Bryce was startled by the tolling of 
the great bell. In the days of his wildness, John Bun- 
yan might have rung that bell, and gazing at it in the 
hour of his sin-cursed dispair, he might have trembled 
lest it should fall upon him. For a long time not a word 
was spoken, but the bell continued, slowly tolling. 

‘* Arise !’’? the Father commanded. ‘‘ Bring the robes.”’ 

Black robes were brought, and one of them was placed 
upon each man, including the candidate. ‘‘ Kneel !” the 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 75 


Father commanded. And when they had-obeyed, the 
old man continued: ‘‘ Joseph, the bell which Council- ~ 
man ‘Trent is tolling, was never before tolled in this vil- 





lage. Itisacere- 
mony which our 
fathers held in 
ae . = : keeping for you. 
WSS ZA Mark it well. 
be Place your right 
~ hand r 

and upon you 

heart, and your left hand upon my heart.’ Bryce 
obeyed. ‘‘ Now, repeat after me: ‘Obeying the will of 


76 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


the Omnipotent God of the universe, I have come to this 
spot to perform the duties embodied in the holy creed 
given fresh from heaven into the hands of my fathers.’’ 
He waited for Bryce to repeat the words, and then con- 
tinued: ‘‘I donot come with any especial mark of holi- 
ness upon me, therefore I am not privileged to break the 
customs of the people whom God has chosen for his own. 
I am an instrument to be directed, and must obey the 
laws. I must hold the creed as a sacred secret, until the 
proper time shall come to make it known, when the son 
of my body, inspired from heaven, and directly from the 
Omuipotent God, shall step forth as the Savior of man- 
kind. And my own salvation shall depend upon Him as 
though I were the humblest among God’s people, and I 
shall meet with no more reward than if I were not by 
physical ties related to Him; for when the time is come 
all natural ties shall be broken, and naught but the divine 
tie shall remain. And if, prompted by rebellious flesh, I 
should seek to disobey the commands, which are so clearly 
defined unto me, I hope to receive forgiveness as other 


59/9 


transgressors are forgiven. Bryce repeated the last 
word and waited, but the Father had ceased to speak. 
But he continued to kneel, with Bryce’s left hand pressed 
hard against his heart. The bell had ceased to toll, and 
Councilman Trent had entered the room and was kneel- 


ing near the Father. The old man gently put Bryce’s 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. ‘EL 


hand from him, looked up, and said: ‘‘I told you, 
Joseph, that you had but little to learn from this oath, 
and indeed it is not an oath as our people know that cere- 
mony.” Another minute of silence fell upon the group, 
and then the Father said: ‘‘ Kneeling thus, away from 
the sight of man and within the sight of God, let us pray 
for the early fulfillment of the hopes that lie so close to 
our hearts, that lay so close tothe hearts of our grand- 
fathers and our fathers. I know that under the rule of 
nature I shall not in the flesh see the ripening of those 
hopes, but my spirit shall be with the brethren on that 
great day, singing praises unto the Most High God. Let 
us pray.” 

Deep and rich was his voice in prayer, and in the 
energy of his faith, vibrant and thrilling were his words. 
With bowed head he remained kneeling for a few moments 
after his utterances had died in a whispered ‘‘ Amen,” 
and he seemed to be breathing a prayer which was too 
sacred for human ears to hear ; and Bryce, in his explor- 
ing fancy, wondered if he were imploring the giver of his 
religion to grant divine motherhood unto Silvia, his own 
daughter. 

‘* Councilman Trent,” said the old man, arising ; ‘‘ take 
your lamp, and lead us forth.” 

Slowly they filed out, and when Bryce felt upon his 
cheek the cool breath of the night he looked up and saw 


78 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


lights glimmering here and there: they had sprung up 
when the bell ceased to toll. They went to the house of 
the Prophet, where a company was gathered. Judith 
met them at the door, and now it was she who was to sit 


felt gs es ae 
ot. Str 


with Bryce on the settee made of hickory saplings. . 


Among the company were several elderly women, and 
how smooth and tranquil their lives seemed tobe. House- 
hold cares, and the strain of maternity had not fretted the 
light out of their eyes. One woman told of a time when 
she had been a wife of the Prophet. The ruler of the 
American people, President Poik, had passed through the 
village while going to the mountains to hunt. She 
remembered it well, for the very next year an epidemic 
broke out in the village, and a large number of the chosen 
people had died. ‘The Father, laughing and winking at 
Bryce, asked her if she thought that the passing through 
of the president had caused the epidemic, whereupon she 
pretended to be greatly perplexed at him; but she was 


full of laughter, and she said that the Father was never 


so happy as when he found an opportunity to twist her 
meaning to suit his oWn mischievous ends. Councilman 
Trent told of a bear that he had killed, and it was the last 
one that had been seen in that neighborhood. It wasa 
cold ‘morning, away back in the thirties, the time of the 
big snow. He was coming along near the Witch Hole 


when he heard his dog howl, and looking about he saw a 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 79 


bear crushing him. He had no gun, but he had a long 
knife, and with it he killed the bear. And the Father 
was now called upon to verify the story, as he had doubt- 
less been called upon a hundred times before. Young 
Benjamin, who had just come in, said that there were 
animals that were far more dangerous than bears; that 
they did not go about crushing the bones of dogs, but 
crushed the hearts of men. 

‘* Benjamin,’’ said the Father, ‘‘ your reading and your 
meditation must have been more extensive than mine. 
What sort of animals are they?”’ 


) 


‘“‘T do not know their names,’’ the young man 
answered. 3 

“Then, my son, do not assert so intimate an acquaint- 
ance with them.”’ 

The elderly women laughed and some of the girls 
clapped their hands, and Benjamin sat there, looking 
down. 

‘‘TLet us have a song,’’ said the Father. ‘‘ Alma, sing 
us that ballad of the strong man who buckled on his 
armor and fought for the suffering and the weak.”’ 

“T would, Father, but I have forgotten some of the 
words.”’ 

‘*But you have the words in a book. Where is it.’’ 

‘‘In my room, I think. I will go and see.”’ 

She went to her room, and for the first time Bryce 


by Pa ar FAP ae sae a t 9s 
Ee aie. 


80 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


noticed that it was numbered ‘‘three.’’ ‘‘It isn’t in 
here, ’’she said, stepping out. 

‘‘T had it yesterday,’’ Judith spoke up. ‘‘ Look in 
my room.’’ 

Bryce saw her go into room ‘‘four.’’ Judith sat beside 
him. He looked at her, and their eyes met. The song- 
book was brought and the old ballad was sung. ‘The 
Father said that bed-time had come and the company 
rose to go. ‘‘ With your permission,’’ Bryce remarked, 
speaking to the old man, ‘‘I will walk home with you.”’ 

‘“Thank you,’’ the Father replied, taking his arm; 
and together they walked away. When Bryce returned 
the circular room was deserted. The door had been left 
open, and the hanging lamp was slowly swinging. He 
stood there for a moment, meditating. His mind went 
back over the day just ended; again he heard the echoing 
roar of the creek, and again he saw Judith, flushed and 
beautiful, as she sat beside him on the rock, 


CHAPTER VIII. 


Bryce was meditatively walking about the circular 
room at early morning waiting for Judith to get ready 
for breakfast, when Silvia came out of room number 
“‘five.” Just then Judith came and together the three 
walked across the plaza to the room where breakfast was 
ready to be served. Councilman Boyle, the father of 
Alma, sat at the head of the table. He was tall, spare 
and of severe countenance; he had no compromises to 
make, looked upon a trifling foible as the promise of 
a monstrous sin, a Puritan in his faith and of his creed a 
doctrinaire. He asked a blessing as though he were 
making a demand and snapped his ‘‘ Amen” as though 
he had popped it off with a whip. He praised God not 
so much for the heaven He had promised as for the hell 
He had insured. 

‘Brother Joseph,’’ he said, looking hard at Bryce, ‘‘you 
and our two daughters are lagging this morning. The 
dew is almost off. Dry grass should not find a man in 
bed.’ 

‘““ Not unless he has slept in the hay,” Bryce replied, 
attempting to turn it off with a pleasantry. But the 

6 81 


82 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


Councilman wanted no pleasantries. He gave Bryce a 
brow-knit look and rejoined: ‘‘Let us not prattle a re- 
sentment in palliation of a duty neglected.’’ 

The girls bowed in submission to this rebuke, and 
Bryce bowed too, but he could have laughed atthis stilted 
bigot. Into most remote corners does the world send 
its representatives of fanaticism. The Pharisee lives on 
the mountain and in the dell; he sits in the counting 
house and stands in the pulpit. And his influence uncon- 
sciously works in harness with the influence of the gener- 
ous wanton—one gives to virtue a hard and crabbed 
aspect, the other bedecks vice with a rose. 

They were eating in silence when their Father appeared 
at the door. How pronounced was the contrast between 
him and Councilman Boyle, the contrast that lies between 
broad strength and narrow weakness. 

‘Brother Joseph, what are you going to do iodage | 
the Father asked. 

‘‘ Father, my hands are ready for any work that is ready 
for them,’’ Bryce answered. Councilman Boyle nodded in 
approval of this, but the Father replied: ‘“The work is 
not pressing and can wait. As I told you yesterday, it is 
better that you should become acquainted with your sur- 
roundings. Silvia will show you about; she is strong, 
albeit she is slight, and will set you asharp pace.” 

‘In one quarter of the meadow where the ground is 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 83 


‘ 


dryest the hay is ready to be cut, Councilman Boyle 
remarked. 

‘“Then let you and I whet our scythes and get at it,” 
the Father replied. 

“It is well,” said the Councilman, bowing, but Bryce 
knew that it was not well with him, that he looked upon 
this honeymoon idleness as he would have regarded all 
idleness, a sin to be repressed. At Bryce’s right hand 
Silvia sat, and leaning closer to him, she said in low 
words: ‘‘Yesterday you spoke of going to the Witch 
Hole. Let us goto-day.” Hereupon Judith looked up. 
‘It was too far yesterday, we were told.” 

And Silvia, smiling, thus replied: ‘‘ You were told 
so because the day was half spent. Joseph, I will carry 
our dinner in a basket.’’ She was a willful little creature. 

Bryce asked if Witch Hole were a good place to fish, 
and the Father answered that Councilman Trent could 
tell him of great fish that had been caught there. But 
he cared not to hear a fish story, and above all not caring 
again to hear the story of the bear, the very last one seen 
in that neighborhood, he sought no advice from Council- 
man Trent. ‘They were told that the best way to go was 
to follow the creek: that the distance was greater, but 
that the ground was not so rough. While Bryce was 
arranging his tackle, a thick canerod and a strong flax 
line, Silvia prepared the luncheon and placed it in a wil- 


ear n= me me 
. ee eae 


84. THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


low basket. Bryce asked her to let him carry it, but she 
drew back and said: ‘‘ You must not rob me of all the 
pleasure of going. Councilman Boyle will tell you that 
where there is no work there is no enjoyment. No; you 
carry the pole, and you will find it heavy enough by the 
time we get there.”’ nse 

They passed along’ the path which Bryce and Judith 
had trod the day before. The polygamist was not now 
troubled even with a fleeting self-reproach, and the bloom, 
the grass, the view, that was rolled out with a tangle 
here and there, smote his sense of the beautiful, the 
romantic.. They came within hearing of the hollow roar 
of the creek, and it was not so loud as it had been yester- 
day ; they came within sight of the rock whereon Bryce 
and Judith had sat. ‘They passed near the rock, and he 
saw lying there the dried flower that the girl had held in 
its freshness the day before, but it seemed a long time 
ago. Here it was that Benjamin had skulked along the 
shore, and here was where the water poured upon 
the hollowrock. ‘The tall man looked down at his grace- 
ful little companion. She wore a loose-fitting gown, 
woven of lamb’s wool and fine cotton, dyed a bright blue 
with some sort of berries, and girdled at the waist with a 
white cord. He stepped from a high rock, and 


turned to help her down, but she leaped past him with a 
laugh. 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 85 


“You are a fawn,”’ he said, catching up with her. 

‘““You must have been used to a strange sort of 
women,’ she replied. 

‘‘ Surely not accus- 
tomed to gazelies,’’ he 
rejoined ag‘ Ouchi<4 
pace as this could not 
be kept by any woman 
that I knew in the 
world. There manmay 
cultivate strength, but 


T 


women, many of them 








OTE 


at least, strive to look 
delicate. They think 
that to be strong is to 
berude. But they are 
getting away from 
thatidea. They ought 
to come up here and 
take a few lessons of 
you.”’ 

The other route to 
the Witch Hole might 
have been less smooth, 
but this was rough enough. In places there was a descent 
so sudden that they had to climb down ; the creek swirled 


86 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


to the right and to the left and then tumbled in a roaring | 


fall. Wild was the scene, pathless ; but in that wildness, 
amid those giant rocks, leaning far over and threatening 
to tumble from the bluff high above and choke the stream 
with their monstrous bulk, what a pulpit there was in 
which to stand and shout in admiration of nature’s tragic 
mood. ‘They stood upon a dangerous ledge, and with a 
sense of peril, that sweetened the enchantment of the scene 
below, looked far down the stream. ‘This man forgot his 
villainy. He was no longer the most infamous of all 
thieves, cankered with lust in the home of the innocent, 
but of the sublime a soulful worshipper. His head was 
uncovered —it was a revival of the good that was within 
him, that he had put under his feet. In his breast an 
excitement fluttered, and to the girl who stood beside 
him he was grand and noble. She spoke to him, and 
back to him flew the impulses that had driven him, 
throbbed him to the old sailor’s retreat, to the portico of 
the temple, there to stand with pictures on his arms. 

‘“When we have climbed one more steep place we can 
see the Witch Hole,’’ she said. ‘‘You look sad. Are 
you sorry you came?”’ 

‘“Sorry! Why, little sweetheart, Iam charmed. Are 
the bluffs high at the Witch Hole?” 

‘On one side, but the ground slopes on this side and 


we can sit on the grass.’’ 








The Witch Hole. 


Page 87. 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 87 


The creek, fed by noisy rills, was now almost a river, 
and the country on the opposite shore was as wild as the 
wake of a hurricane. In one place the gray spur of a 
great mountain had been cut off with square precision, like 
a winter’s straw stack, trimmed by an economic farmer; 
and further down a deep gorge appeared to slope back 
from the stream, as though it would urge the water to 
quit its age-worn course. But along the shore where 
Bryce and Silvia strolled, the éarth dipped down in pleas- 
ant dells. Now they stood on a grassy slope, and in front 
of them was the Witch Hole. How well did this dark, 
brooding pool beseem its name. The water was so blue 
that it was almost black. The river, not far away, had 
checked the swift current of the creek, slowly was drink- 
ing it, and on the pool a hawk’s feather sailed round and 
round. Dismal were the surroundings; the opposite shore 
was not a shore, but a wall scarred with red, the smear of 
an ancient soil, and high at the top a lone scraggy tree 
stood, with it roots sucking the seams of the rock. 

With many a dainty touch the girl spread the luncheon 
under a post-oak tree. The place was so steep that Bryce 
told her that she would better eat with one hand and hold 
to him with the other to keep from falling, and then 
he asked: ‘‘The name of this place is appropriate 
enough, but how did they happen to call it Witch 


Hole ?”’ 


88 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘Because a witch used to live here a long time ago,”’ 
she answered. ‘'And they say that instead of being a 
hag she was a beautiful girl, And when she saw a man 
coming she would jump into the pool and pretend to be 
drowning. Men who had never heard of her would jump 
in to get her out and she would drag them under and 
drown them and then raise up out of the water and laugh 
about it.’’ 

‘‘T dare say she carried on a great industry,” Bryce re- 
plied. ‘‘And she was wise in having herself appointed a 
beautiful girl instead of a hag. For all purposes of de- 
struction a handsome girl is always more effective than 
an old woman. And it is not necessary for the girl to be 
a witch ; to be bewitching is quite enough.” 

‘“ Joseph, I don’t know what you are talking about.” 

‘*No? Well, it’s better that you don’t. Let me ask 
you: Did any of the people of Bolga ever go wrong?”’ 

‘“Yes, but you must never mention it in the village. 
A long time ago, before I was born, a girl ran away with 
aman and married him. They did not hear of her for a 
long time, but one cold day she came back bringing her 
child with her. She said that her husband had beaten 
her and had then deserted her. It was whispered about 
that Councilman Boyle wanted to put her to death and 
that my father wouldn’t lethim. And I believe he would 
have done it, too, for he is very strict. She got on her 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 89 


knees, I have heard, and begged and told them that al- 
though she had married in the world, yet she had never 
told anything about our religion.’’ 

**Ts she still living ?”’ 

**'No, she died when the mountain fever came, five 
years ago.”’ 

‘‘What became of her child ?”’ 

‘* She is Mary, your wife.’’ 

‘* What!” Bryce exclaimed. 

‘*Yes, and she didn’t think that she was going to be 
elected, but she had no trouble whatever. Oh, Council- 
man Boyle might have opposed her until he saw that 
Alma, his daughter, was sure to be elected. Mary 
doesn’t know about her mother’s running away—that is, 
I don’t think she does, for I don’t think that any one 
would be mean enough to tell her. Isn’t she modest? 
And she was one of the brightest girls in the school. Oh, 
did you see that fish jump up !”’ 

*“Yes, I did,” Bryce answered, reaching for his rod. 
‘Hah, what a focl I am,’’ he said. ‘‘I have come off 
without any bait. But I’ve got a fly hook and I’ll catch 
a minnow. ‘The first thing, though, is to get a grass- 
hopper.” 

‘“Oh, let me get one,” she cried, and by the time he 
had made ready with his fly-hook, she was there with the 
grasshopper. He caught a minnow, a steelback, and it 


pee eee a 


90 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


was rather large but he decided to try it. He threw far 
out into the pool and stood there expectantly waiting. 
He dangled the minnow about on the surface of the water, 
he walked up and down the bank, at times almost slip- 
ping into the water, and finally he decided to set his rod 
and wait. Silvia was sitting under the post-oak tree with 
her lap full of flowers. He sat down beside her. She 
looked up at him and her face was bright with happiness. 
She suffered him to put his arm about her, to kiss her. 
‘“ Would it make you happier to know that I love you 
more than all-the others ?’’ he asked. 

‘That. would not be right,’ she answered. ‘‘ You 
must love us all just the same.’’ 

‘* But that would be quite impossible.’’ 

‘*Oh, not impossible when it was intended to be that 
way.’’ 

‘*But who says that it was intended to be that way? 
If it is a part of our religion it has not been made 
known to me?” . 

‘*Hasn’t it? Well then you may love me just a little 
bit more than you do the others.’’ He gave her a quick, 
playful hug, pretending to use great strength; it was 
more the act of fondling a child than the passionate im- 
pulse of a lover. 

‘* You are the sweetest little creature I ever saw,’ he 
said, 


io ot 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 91 


‘“And how long am I to remain sweet; until I get mad 
at something ?’’ 

“Do you ever lose your temper? Or do you throw it 
away out of mere mischief ?’’ 

**T don’t know whether I lose it or throw it, but I know 
that it gets away sometimes. A little thing sometimes 
makes me awful mad.” | 

‘“Where did you pick up the school girl use of that 
word awful? You giveit the light meaning that the city 
woman attaches to it.”’ 

““DolI? ‘Then I can go back to the village and put on 
airs, can’t I? Won’t that be nice? But wouldn’t Coun- 
cilman Boyle givemearaking? Iwill tell you something 
else if you won’t say anything about it. I don’t know 
why I talk to you this way. I am not afraid of you a 
bit. I thought all men were rough, simply because they 
are strong, but they arenot. Butletmesee. What was 
I going to tell you? Oh, yes. Why, not long ago while 
one of the girls was walking along the creek where some 
men must have been fishing, she found a paper covered 
book and she read it and a whole lot of us read it, al- 
though we knew that we ought to have shown it to some 
Councilman first, but if you would ask the girls about it 
now they might tell you they hadn’t read it, for it did 
raise a muss. Councilman Boyle found it out and he de- 
clared that not one of us should ever be a Wife of the 


92 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


Prophet, but then he had to come down, for some one told 
him that Alma had read it, too.’’ 

‘‘ What was the book about ?”’ 

‘‘Oh, it told of a whole lot of people, of girls that wore 
the prettiest dresses that your ever did hear of and of men 
that talked sweet to them. Oh, look there.’’ 

Bryce sprang toward the fishing-rod, and in his head- 
long eagerness came near tumbling into the water. He 
caught up the rod and gave a quick puli, and then the 
heavy pole was bent until the tip end touched the 
water. ‘‘ He’s a whale!’’ Bryce shouted. He kept the 
line taut, taking care lest the rod might break. Fora 
time there was a hard, throbbing pull, and then the line 
became slack. Was he off? No; there he went, round 
and round, coming toward the surface. Suddenly, high 
out of the water he leaped, with mouth wide open. 
‘* Biggest bass I ever saw !’’ Bryce cried. Down he went, 
twenty, thirty feet, to the end of the line, and there he 
sulked. But it would not do to let him rest, and Bryce 
gave him a hard pull. Off he shot and in his fury 
threatened to break the rod, and reaching the limit of 
his tether, strove to snap the line. Was there ever so 
determined a fighter? A sudden slack and again he 
jumped clear of the stream. Down he came with a splash, 
and off he darted to the end of the line. 

‘“He’s gone !’’ the girl cried. 


~— 
i 


va 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 93 


eNO esde 7 istit, «Bryce replied: “but. it willbe a 
wonder if I get him out. Wish to the Lord I hada reel.’’ 

‘* But, Joseph, you must not talk like that even if you 
do want one. We shouldn’t call on the Lord to aid us to 
catch a fish.”’ 

**T can’t help it; I call on Him to help me catch this 
one. I do believe it’s the biggest bass in the world. 
Now look at him !’’ 

He was cutting scollops here and there. He shot down 
thirty feet. Bryce could feel him weaving, to get the 
purchase of his broad side against the water. Now he 
couldn’t be moved. Harder and harder, as hard as he 
dared, Bryce pulled. Up he came with another jump, 
but this time not so high. And now Bryce slowly played 
him toward the shore. Closer, within a few feet of the 
shore, on the gravel where the water was shallow, his 
green side caught a ray from the sun. But a flounce, and 
again he was thirty feet below the surface of the pool. It 
all had to be gone over again. Now he was but a dead 
weight ; he was tired out, almost drowned. Bryce slipped 
the rod back under his arm, and was taking in the line. | 
The fish was on the gravel, with but a yard of line 
between him and his conqueror. Bryce was afraid to lift 
him clear of the water, and he reached down to slip a 
finger through his gills. He touched him. A flutter, 
a flounce, and he was gone. The hook lay on the gravel. 


94 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


Bryce stooa for a moment as though he were unable fully 
to realize the mishap. He took out his handkerchief, 
mopped his face, and without saying a word, walked up 


the slope. The girl spoke to him, but he a: 
could not trust himself to speak. With mee 
a sick feeling he looked back at the ey? 


pool. 
‘(Get another minnow,’ 







said the girl, ‘‘and he may 
bite again.”’ 











‘He'll do nothing of the sort. He’s ten miles from 
here,”’ ) 

‘‘But, Joseph ; you are not angry at me about it, are 
you?” 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 95 


‘No, little girl,’’ he answered, trying to smile. ‘‘ But 
I would have given almost anything to get that fish. 
Biggest bass I ever saw. Well, get your basket, and let 
us go home.”’ 

‘What! won’t you fish some more ?’’ 

‘* Never as long as I live.’’ 

‘Oh, you musn’t say that. I am so sorry you lost 
him. Maybe there’s another one just as big.”’ 

‘‘There’s not another one in the world that’s just as 


big. Get your basket, and let’s go.” 


CHAPTER IX. 


Homeward they went, back through the dells and over 
the sharp cliffs—the girl bright, looking for happiness, 
the man inclined toward a moody silence. 

‘‘And did the losing of that fish really mean so much 
to you?’’ she asked. | 

‘‘Tt meant everything and will continue to mean that 
much until I get over the disappointment. Of course, 
looking at it from the point of real value, the fish 
amounted to nothing, but the loss is sentimental and to 
me it is worse than losing a case in court.”’ 

‘‘Losing a what ?’’ she asked. 

‘‘ A case in court, a mere figure of speech, used in the 
world. I wanted to hold that fish over Councilman Trent 
and make him squat.” 

‘‘Oh, but you can tell him how large it was.’’ 

‘‘ Little girl, you are too innocent even to live in Bolga. 
He might smile and nod his head and declare that he be- 
lieved me, but in his heart he would feel that I was a liar. 
When one saint goes to another and says, ‘brother I saw 
a ghost,’ the other saint may say, ‘it is well ;’ but when 
one saint tells another about a bass, the other saint feels 

96 


oa a ‘ , 2 
Ae ee a Pet 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 97 


the cold chill of suspicion creeping up his back. But 
there,’’ he added, ‘‘ we won’t say anything more about 
it.’ He took her hand and led her along as though she 
were but a child. They founda young bird fluttering on 
the ground, and he climbed nearly to the top of a tall tree 
and put the fledgling back into the nest from which it had 
fallen. 

‘You are gentle and brave,’’ she said when he reached 
the ground. ‘‘’The angels smile when we are kind to a 
bird.” 

‘““A pretty sentiment spoken by a pretty mouth,’’ he 
replied, brushing the bark off his coat. ‘‘ And the birds 
—TI suppose they frown when we are cruel to angels.”’ 

‘*Joseph, you can say such funny things. How can 
we be cruel to angels? JI want to remind you of some- 
thing before we get to the village.’’ 

‘Can't you remind me of it now?’’ 

‘*Ves, I could, but there is plenty of time. You will 
laugh at me when I do remind you of it. Won’t you?’”’ 

‘*T think not.”’ 

‘Ves you will, Joseph. You are laughing now.’’ 

‘Well, but I will hush laughing when you remind me 
of the something.”’ 

“Oh, you are bidding for me to remind you now. Well, 
I will, and it is this: You remember what you said when 
we first sat down under that tree by the pool.”’ 

7 








98 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘About holding to me to keep from falling ? ” 

‘“Oh, no. Isit possible that you forget a thing so 
soon? Don't you know that you said something about 
loving me more than you would the others, and that I 
said it would not be right ?”’ 

‘Ves, I remember that.’’ 

‘‘Well, I don’t think it would be wrong. Now just 
look at you, laughing fit to kill yourself.’’ 

He put one arm about her, lifted her from the ground 
and kissed her. 

Just after they had passed the rock where Bryce and 
Judith had sat, just before turning a leafy bend that 
would place them within sight of the village, they were 
startled by a loud yell and the rapid firing of guns not far 
away. Bryce ran at the top of his speed, but Silvia kept 
well up with him. They saw Councilman Boyle running 
with a gun in his hand; they recognized the Father, calm 
and dignified in this tumult. When Bryce drew near he 
saw several men whose dress proved them to be strangers, 
and when he came to the edge of the crowd that had 
_gathered, he asked a brother to tell him the cause of the 
commotion. 

‘‘T scarcely know,’’ the brother answered. ‘‘ The first 
we knew a strange man came running out of the woods 
with other men shooting at him. He ran into the weav- 
ing-room, and the pursuers want to go in after him, but 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 99 


the Father is striving to protect him until he can find out 
why they want him.”’ 

The Father stood with his back against the door of the 
weaving-room, and near him Councilman Boyle stood 
with his gun. 

‘‘Joseph, you are back just in time,’’ said the Father. 
“Stand you here beside me, and let us find out why this 
riot has been brought upon us.’’ 

A few yards away stood the four men who had done 
the shooting. They were rough and loud in their demand 
that the door should at once be opened. 

“This man has been forced to take a refuge here,’’ 
said the Father. ‘‘ Why do you seek him ?’’ 

‘“Wa’al, I don’t reckon you’ve got very much to do 
with that,’ the leader of the men answered. ‘‘It’s 
enough for you to know that we want him.” 

‘‘Tt is not enough for me to know that,’’ the Father 
replied. ‘‘If you are officers of the law, and if this man 
has violated the law, then it will be enough, and the man 
shall be surrendered unto you ; but we must know these 
things. Who are you?’’ 

‘*T’m Tuck Benson, that’s whoI am ; and I live about 
thirty mile from here.”’ 

‘The distance of the place of your abode makes no 
difference,’’ said the Father. ‘‘ The question is: are you 
an officer of the law?” 


100 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘“No, but I’m a man that attends to my own business ; 
and this here feller come a foolin’ round my business an’ 
a tryin’ to get me into trouble, an’ me an’ the boys here 
want him, an’ we are goin’ to git him. To tell you the 
whole truth he’s up here fur the gover’ment, an’ is atter 
us, so to speak. He says that we ain’t got no right to 
raise co'n an’ make whisky, an’ we say we have. We 
fit fur the gover’ment durin’ of the war, an’ now the 
gover’ ment wants to turn on us, an’ we say help yo’se’f. 
That’s all thar’ is to it. ‘This here feller come up some 
time ago, an’ tuck my cousin Bob Ed Seviers off sum- 
mers, an’ he ain’t got back yit. He come back atter us, 
this here feller did, several weeks ago, an’ we come 
mighty nigh gittin’ him, but he got out of a place whar’ 
we had him hemmed up, but I don’t ‘low that he will git 
out of this here place whar’ we’ve got him hemmed up.”’ 

And these were the men, this was the Tuck who 
had striven to kill Bryce at early morning when he had 
been aroused by what he thought was a panther, but 
what indeed was worse. 

‘‘Hather,’’ said Bryce, ‘‘let me say a word to thar fel- 
low.”’ 

? Proceed; J osepiae - 

‘And you are Tuck Benson, are you?’’ Bryce asked. 

“That’s what they call me, an’ that’s what I don’t 
deny.” | 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 101 


** And you think that it is your right to kill men who 
seek to enforce the law.”’ 

‘*T think it’s my right to kill men that try to enforce’ 
me. 

‘In other words ycu are a murderer in order to do an 
unlawful business, Now the best thing you can do is to 
go on away fromhere. If you don’t you'll get hurt.’’ 

Who ll hurt me?” 

‘‘T will.’’ Bryce reached over and took Councilman 
- Boyle’s gun. 

‘‘Now look here, boys,’’ said Tuck Benson, lets argy 
this matter a little. You may stand here and protect this 
here feller, but he’s got to come out some time and when 
he do, I’ve got him. He brought three fellers with him, 
and whur air they? Hedon’t know, but we do.’’ 

“‘Joseph,’’ said the Father, ‘‘ this matter stands in need 
of compromise. We cannot give perpetual protection 
to this officer; we cannot make him one of us. Mr. 
Tuck Benson, you ought to know that you cannot subdue 
the entire government.’’ 

“That’s true enough, but we can pop over men putty 
fast that come after us.’’ 7 
_ “Mr. Tuck Benson,’’ said the Father, paying no atten- 

tion to the fellow’s last remark, ‘‘in this matter it is not 
our intention to take sides against you, for the fancied 
grievances of the world concern us but little; and at the 


102 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


same time we cannot take sides against the government, 
for that would not be right. Now suppose this man will 
agree to go away and never to come back here again. 
Will that satisfy you?” 

‘‘But if he do agree to that he will come jest the 
same,’’ Tuck Benson answered. ‘‘ An’ besides ef he don’t 
come he will send somebody else. No, old man, we’ve 
got him penned up now, an’ I reckon we better use 
him.” 

‘‘But you cannot use him while he is in our house, and 
we cannot drag him out. Let me tell you and tell you 
quietly, that if you shoot him here, not one of you shall 
leave this place alive.”’ 

‘‘Oid man, I ain’t got no call to doubt what you say,” 
Tuck replied. ‘‘ Well, now I tell you,” he added after 
a moment of thought, ‘‘if he’ll swear not to bother us or 
send any others to bother us for three months we’ll let 
him off.” 

‘‘ Are you saying this merely to get a chance to shoot 
him when he is outside of the village, or do you mean it 
in good faith?” the Father asked. 

‘*T mean it in good faith.” 

‘*But why do you stipulate three months ?” 

‘* Because we can git away from here by that time, and 
git fixed somewhar’ else. They have made it too hot for 
us here,” 


? = <a 7 
is 
io ne 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 103 


‘“ Well, now, remember that if you violate your pledge 
you gain our eternal enmity, and that will do you no 
good. Joseph, step inside and see if the man is willing 
to this arrangement.” 

Bryce opened the door far enough to look into the 
room and then drew back. He knew the man, a deputy- 
marshal named Allison, a tricky and indiscreet fellow. 
A mere sight of him argued and decided the case. 

‘“ Father,” said Bryce, ‘‘ you present the matter to him 
and I will stand guard.” 

‘You have been told to present it,’’ Councilman Boyle 
spoke up. 

‘“TIt was not a command but a request,” Bryce argued. 

‘‘But what objection can you have?”’ Boyle asked. 

‘Simply a feeling that I could not do it so well as the 
Father or yourself,’ Bryce replied. 

“Let there be no dispute,” said the Father; ‘I will 
see him.” : 

The old man entered the room, and Bryce stood with 
his back against the door. But the deputy-marshal might 
upon coming out recognize him. ‘The Father returned, 
and behind him came the deputy-marshal. Bryce dared 
not look around. ‘‘ You may now vo,” said the Father ; 
‘Cand you, Mr. Tuck Benson, must remain here until he 
has been gone two hours. I will go to the stable with 
you,” he added, speaking to the deputy-marshal, ‘‘ and 


104 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


saddle a horse for you. Ride him one hour and turn him 
loose. He will come home.” 

‘‘Gentlemen,” said the deputy-marshal, ‘‘I should 
like to shake hands with you all, and thank you for your 
kindness.”’ 

Bryce without looking around, replied: ‘‘ That is 
not necessary ; it is better that you depart at once.” He 
leaned the gun against the door, taking care to keep his 
back turned toward the deputy, and slowly strode away. 
He went to a well, some distance off, drew a bucket of 
water, and holding the rim of the bucket to his lips, 
turned and looked back. ‘The Father and the deputy 
were walking toward the stable. Councilman Boyle 
stood holding the gun as though the distillers were his 
prisoners. Bryce returned to the door of the weaving- 
room. 

‘‘T don’t see why he wants us to stay here so long,”’ 
said Tuck Benson. ‘‘ We ain’t goin’ to pester the feller. 
Have dun said we wouldn’t.” 

‘“Stand where you are!” Councilman Boyle com- 
manded. 

‘“TIsn’t it just as well to let them sit down?’ Bryce 
asked. , 

‘*TLet them stand where they are,’ 
replied. And they stood there until the Father returned, 
but they grumbled the while, swearing that they were not 


’ 


the Councilman. 


4 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 105 


prisoners, that they had simply given their word that 
they would not leave until the expiration of a certain time. 
‘‘Let them walk about!” the Father commanded. 
‘‘Joseph, keep time for them, and tell them when to go.” 
Councilman Boyle went away, the distillers stretched 
oes themselves on 





the grass, and 


=A 


Brycesat down 
Ra ~~ With his back 
ae against a tree. 


go And he mused 

over the nar- 

rowness of his escape. What 
if that fellow had caught sight 
of his face. What if he had 
cried out: ‘‘ Why, hello How- 
ard Bryce !”” Now he realized 
that until his hair and beard 
should grow long he was to be 
beset with dangers. He won- 





dered whether it were possible 
that the fellow had recognized Se 

him. Society might excuse him, might clap its hands at 
the recital of so audacious an adventure. But those 
sturdy men; what would they do? Again he mused 
over the folly of man’s belief, the blindness with which he 


106 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


accepts a creed. He sat there a long time. He arose 
and walked up and down the sward between the tree and 
the well; he looked at the clock in the weaving-room, 
and then turning to the distillers told them that it was 
time to go. They got up, stretching themselves. They 
told Bryce that as the government had not permitted 
them to sleep during the two preceding nights they were 
thankful for the lodging that he had giventhem. ‘They 
took up their guns and strode away, and just then Silvia 
came running to Bryce to tell him that with her he was 
to eat supper at the Father’s house. 

There was but one street in the village, and it lay in a 
half circle to the left of the plaza. The Father’s house was 
in this street, not far from the temple. There was nothing 
at the Father’s board to distinguish it from any other 
table in Bolga. The ware was coarse and the food was 
simple. It was the first time that Bryce had noticed the 
Father’s wife. She was a quiet little woman and moved 
about with noiseless step. At one time she must have 
been pretty, for Silvia had her features.- How neat every- 
thing was. The oak floor was white; even the chairs 
had been scrubbed. Soon after supper Councilman Trent 
came in, and at once Bryce began to tell him about the 
bass, calling upon the girl to sustain him. The Council- 
man listened attentively and said that it must have been 
the one he hung there just after a June rise had run down, 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 107 


five years before. ‘‘ And if you had caught him,” said 
the old man, ‘‘I warrant that you would have found my 
hook in his mouth. I mean if you had got him out, for 
of course you caught him. Yes, sir, that year there were 
some very large bass taken out of that hole. The Father 
doubtless remembers one that I brought home. It 
weighed nearly six pounds, if | remember rightly. Father, 
do you remember exactly how much it did weigh?” 

The Father answered that at different times there had 
been a great number of fish brought to the village, but 
that he could not recall the number of pounds that any 
of them had weighed. Bryce thought that if Trent had 
been as skeptical about spiritual affairs as he was about 
fish he surely would have been an atheist instead of a 
Councilman of a credulous church. 

The Father’s wife brought three pipes, and under the 
influence of the tobacco the talk sobered. ‘‘ It is a won- 
der to me,” said Bryce, ‘‘that this village, having been so 
long established, does not contain more than four hundred 
souls.”’ 

‘*Not when you consider the fact that three times dur- 
ing our history we have been swept by epidemics, with 
cholera once, and twice with mountain fever. But it was 
not intended that our numbers should be great. A 
multitude could not keep a religion pure. The Saviour 
of mankind alone can expurgate sin from the crowd. 


108 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


And that great day is not far off. Ah, Joseph, this vil- 
lage now so quiet and so remote, will then be the pulpit 
of the world. I look toward that day, and its brightness 
dazzles my old eyes; I listen, and my ears are filled with 
heavenly music. Pain and evil shall be no more. ‘The 
heart of man shall be filled with love, and his soul shall 
be filled with the breath of God. Then, Joseph, should 
we not endure much to wait for the coming of that day ? 
Should we complain of the ignorant man’s laugh, the 
idler’s jeer? God is with us, Joseph, with you and me 
and with us all.” 

Silvia sat beside Bryce with her hand lying in his, and 
the quiet housewife, the noiseless little woman was smil- 
ing upon them. ‘The heart of this man smote him. He 
got up and looked about. He opened the door and gazed 
at the moonlight on the sward, at the black mountain far 
away. Silvia arose and came to him. 

‘‘Yes, it is time to go,” said the Father. He put down 
his pipe, arose and approached them, in his great height 
towered above them, and placing one hand on Bryce’s 
head and one on the head of his child, he said: ‘‘ May 
God bless you, my children. Good night.” 





CHAPTER X. 


At daylight a slow rain was falling, and with a sense of 
disappointment Bryce heard the dripping eaves. No 
stroll along the creek, no climbing of the mountain, but 
an indoor-listening to the dreary stories of Trent and to 
the bigotries of old man.Boyle. Was this life, whose 
threshold he had scarcely crossed, beginning to pall upon 
him? Not yet, but he had begun to wonder how long 
could he keep up a show of respect for the mummeries of 
this absurd communion. ‘The husband and the wives had 
eaten breakfast by the light of a lamp. Councilman 
Boyle had blown the horn, and it seemed that he had 
blown it earlier than usual; but in this he had followed 
the countryman’s preposterous instinct—to get up soonest 
when there is least to do. Bryce stood in the outer 
door of the Prophet’s house; in the center of the circular 
room the girls were gathered, gossiping, laughing, talk- 
ing about gowns and a new dye-bark that had been 
brought from the woods, ‘There was no promise of a 
break in the clouds. Across the landscape puffs of mist, 
like floating veils were blown; a muffled bird sat under 

109 


110 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


the gable of the weaving room; a rat ran from under the 
house to steal a drink of water. 

‘“What do you find out here that is so inter- 
esting?”’ 

He recognized the voice and he looked around with a 
smile. Alma stood beside him. ‘‘I have seen you every 
day,’’ he said, ‘‘and have heard you laugh, and yet it 
seems that you have been away from me a long and 
dreary time.”’ 

‘‘ Not so loud,’’ she warned him. ‘‘ They might hear 
you. Ifitislong to you, what must it be to me? I have 
been compelled to see you—but they are listening. Ido 
not dare to find fault with the religion which God has 
handed down to us, but I cannot but ask myself—I 
wouldn’t dare ask the Father—why one wife would not 
have been better than five.” 

‘‘Ah, and if you were that wife,” he replied. ‘‘ But it 
is sinful to question a plan that was drawn for us.” 

‘‘T know it is,” she said, ‘‘and I am sorry that I spoke 
of it. But it is so easy to say what we think; yes, and so 
hard to keep from saying it. Why, though, should we 
not have the thoughts that the Lord would like best to 
hear? He knows what we are going to think.”’ 

And with sophistic grace Bryce thus replied: ‘‘ Thought 
may cote as a temptation; to restrain it makes us vir- 
tuous.” 


te 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. - 11] 


*‘ But why should God tempt his children with rebell- 
ious thoughts?” she rejoined. 

‘* Alma, whence came the incentive to such a question?” 
he asked, looking straight at her. ‘‘ Your father is a 
most rigid man, and your training must have been severe. 
Have you read books that you have hidden from him?” 

*‘ He has seen all the books that I have read; and I will 
tell you about one of them. -One time while the men 
were returning from Knoxville, whither they had gone to 
sell the linen, a ragged man asked them if he might ride 
a short distance in the wagon. They took him up and 
let him ride till their roads fell apart, and when he got out 
he left a book, a tattered thing without any covering. 
They thought nothing of it, did not look at it, might not 
have seen it; and I found it in.the wagon after they came 
back. I was going to school at the time. Of course I 
was full of mischief, looking for a forbidden fruit, and so 
one night instead of studying my lesson I read that book. 
But I repented and the next morning I took it to Coun- 
cilman Boyle, my father, and gave it to him; and that 
day at noon he burnt it in front of the temple.” 

‘“What was the name of the book?” 

‘‘The Age of Reason. Did you ever see it?” 

**Yes, and all men who have seen it may be wiser, may 
worship nature with a deeper love, but they are not so 
religious. It is not right, though, to read such books.” 


112 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘‘T ought not to have read a line of it, ’ she said, ‘‘ and 

I have tried to forget it, but sometimes it comes back to 
me. But I must go. Taking you to myself to-day is 
a piece of impudence on my part. You belong to Mary.” 
She joined the girls, who were still 









talking about their gowns and the new 
dye-bark. The rain fell faster, but 
through it Bryce saw the Father, 
Benjamin. and several Coun- 
cilmen coming toward the 
Prophet’s house. At 
the door they threw 
off their gray shawls, 
stamped their feet and: 
then bade Bryce good 
morning. Judith and 
Rachel sprang up 
rom the hickory set- 
tee to let the Father 


and Councilman 
Boyle sit down; Mary 
brought a chair for Councilman Trent and Benjamin was 
permitted to shift for himself. Councilman Boyle’s coun- 
tenance was a reflex of the morning, dark and lowerifig, 
and Bryce fancied that the black, dripping dawn must 
have charged him with many a husky tenate of his 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 113 


creed. But how sincere he was with his thin nostrils and 
. whining voice; and how sincere was the early Puritan, 
the sour and merciless headsman of a harsh faith. Bryce 
hated him and he hated Bryce; it was the involuntary 
hatred that one extreme feels for the other. And yet this 
old man was proud to see his daughter a wife of the man 
he hated, for with savage ardor he believed that as a hus- 
band he was the fulfillment of a divine promise, and to 
criticise him was to advise with God. 

‘“It is perhaps well enough,” said Boyle, ‘‘to rest while 
it is raining, and still it is not well to idle away our time. 
We might strip the tobacco that hangs under the stable 
shed.” He looked at Bryce as he said this, and Bryce, 
looking at him, replied: ‘‘ By which you mean that it is 
better to work while you are resting.” 7 

‘“ Work has its degrees, Joseph ; idleness has not. We 
labor hard or easily, but when we are idle we do nothing.” 

“T don’t know exactly what you mean, but I suppose 
your philosophy is all right.” 

‘We are not guided by philosophy or what may pass 
for that shadowy quality, but by religion. And above all, 
life here is not a holiday.”’ | 

‘“No,’’ the Father spoke up, ‘‘and neither should it be a 
tread mill. To-morrow, Joseph, will be the Sabbath, and 
then we shall expect to hear from you in the Temple and we 
hope that the Lord may put benefitting word in your 


mouth.’’ 
8 


114 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘‘T am His instrument,” Bryce replied, ‘‘and I hope 
that I may utter well the words which He may give unto 
mer 

‘‘And,’’ the Father continued, “We shall also expect 
to hear from Councilman Boyle. He is a favored mouth- 
piece and his words do linger with us. Joseph, you said 
that years ago you thought to become a preacher but that 
in casting about you could not find the religion to suit 
you ; and did you not during that casting about, hear the 
preaching of many a strange doctrine?” 

‘“Yes, and some of them were too absurd to warrant 
attention. But some of them were entertaining. Do you 
know anything of what is termed the Christian faith?” 
~ “T know something of it though I have never studied 
it,” the Father answered. ‘‘Some of our fathers, away 
back, no one knows how long ago, came to us from the 
ranks of that faith, and I can remember hearing my 
grandfather discuss it. ‘The faith was originally held by 
a mere handful of souls; they braved death, saw their 
master murdered, and then their faith spread itself over 
the world. ‘The book of that religion is forbidden among 
us and we care naught for its teachings, but I remember 
hearing my grandfather say that the Christ delivered a 
beautiful sermon on a mountain, a discourse full of the 
words of peace and love, and yet men slew him. Ah, 
but at best the world is a murderer, and it will continue 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. |, ),,, 115. 


to be a murderer until the real Saviour, with our blood in 
his veins and God’s words in his mouth, shall step down 
from these mountains.’’ | 

‘“Father, how old is our religion?” Bryce ventured to 
ask. 

‘* As old, my son, as the will of God.” 

“But let me ask you what of the souls of the millions 
of men who have died. Where are they ?” 

‘“'They are in God’s keeping.” 

‘* But are they saved ?” 

*“ Nothing that God has in His keeping is lost.” 

‘Millions of them are in hell,” Boyle spoke up. 
‘* Nothing that God keeps is lost, but that which He does 
not keep is lost indeed. The souls of good men are asleep, 
awaiting the coming of our Saviour ; the souls of bad men 
are in torment, where they shall remain forever.” 

‘*In some respects,” said Bryce, ‘‘ we do not materially 
differ from the Christians. Father, you said that as speech 
was given directly to man, it is man’s duty to cultivate 
it. But is not all knowledge a gift from God, and is it 
not therefore right to cultivate it? Should we not go into 
the sciences instead of stopping at rhetoric ?’ 

‘*Joseph, God spoke in words, and not in numbers. 
Therefore, words were given directly to us, and therefore 
are we to cultivate them.” 

‘* But let me ask you what language did God speak ?” 


116. THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘“T know not, nor does that make any difference, for 
no matter what language it might have been it was com- 
posed of words.”’ 

‘“It does not behoove you to be skeptical,”’ eae, Boyle. 
‘“You beyond all others should have most faith.” — 

‘ Partlon me,” Bryce replied, bowing. ‘‘I have asked 
questions, but I have felt no skepticism. I told you that 
I had much to learn; and it would not look well in me 
now to take the leadership.” 

‘* Joseph is right,” said the Father. - 

‘‘And am I always wrong ?’’ Boyle asked. 

‘“To say that Joseph is once right does not mean that 
you are always wrong,” the Father replied. ‘‘ Benja- 
min, how progresses your school? You are teaching this 
week, I believe. : 

‘Yes, sir; and I think the school is doing well, not 
because I am teaching it, but because others have taught 
it. The scholars are anxious to have Joseph teach them.” 

‘“ Ah, Joseph, and you must,’ said the Father, ‘*T 
think it well that you begin the morning after the Sab- 
bath.” 

Here was a pleasant task, mapped out for him, and he 
replied with a smile, but the smile was not prompted 
from within. Years ago, when his father had been over- 
taken by business difficulties, Bryce had taught a school 
to enable him to complete his own education, and he des- 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. Ip pYlZ 


pised it — the droning of the children, the close air. And 
now he knew that if Councilman Boyle should discover 
his antipathy to the work he would be given an extra 
share of it. ‘‘’To teach the young; to see a thought 
sprouting, and to train it, is a delightful occupation,” he 
_ said. 

Boyle looked sharply at him, and Bryce felt within his - 
soul'that the old man knew that he wasa liar. ‘‘Iam 
glad to know this,” the Councilman said. ‘‘ The teach- 
ing of a school is an art and we hope that you may make 
yourself acquainted with it. The teacher may not be the 
father of a thought held by the young but he is the 
guardian of it, and therefore his position is one of grave 
responsibility. te 

The Councilman pronounced these words as though he 
were a.Moses, handing down a moral law, and he looked 
at Bryce as if he would estimate the strength of the hold 
his utterances had taken; he wanted this man to feel that 
his duties were graver than merely to talk idly with his 
wives, to tell them of his love, to smile at them, to pet 
them; he wanted him to understand that to discharge his 
duty he must permit the severity of his religion to sour 
every pleasure, and in this he was not so far away from 
the world as were those innocent girls and that huge old 
Father who sat there with the light of kindness in his 
eyes. Without rudeness Bryce withdrew from the Coun- 


118 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


cilman’s attention, and addressed himself to the Father 
and the Wives, and with those graceful qualities of bear- 
ing, of talk which enable a rascal to win admiration, he 
strove to entertain them. Nothing is shrewder than the 
art of dishonesty; nothing sings to innocence so sweet a 
song as the wanton when he seeks to be engaging. 

There was no break in the clouds; mist-shapes continued 
to float in the air, and to this man who longed to be out, 
though his spirits seemed to be dancing, time was slowly 
dripped and drizzled away. ‘The dinner horn was blown. 

‘“Joseph,’’ said Councilman Boyle, ‘‘you and Mary 
will take dinner with me to-day.”’ How close a watch 
he kept even over the affairs of this household. Bryce 
and Mary went with him. He walked a short distance in 
front of them, with his eyes turned upward as if he were 
muttering a prayer in thankfulness for so dismal a day. 
Bryce caught Mary’s glance and they smiled at each 
other. And this was the daughter of a girl who had run 
away and married a man of the world. Surely she pos- 
sessed no spirit so adventurous as the spirit that had 
prompted her mother. Of all the Wives she was the 
shyest. Whenever he looked at her, she blushed; she 
blushed when he told her to sit beside him at the Coun- 
cilman’s table, and once when in leaning over he touched 
her, he fancied that she fluttered like a bird. ‘The Coun- 


cilman talked and Bryce nodded in approval of what he 





HE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 119 


said but heard him not. The Councilman’s wife fanned 
herself with a turkey wing and spoke in praise of Alma, 
her daughter, and Bryce heard this, and he said: ‘‘She 
is a charming girl, one of the brightest that I have ever 
known, and her training reflects credit upon her 
parents.”’ 

This sent the Councilman off into a discussion of ethical 
child-culture and Bryce regretted that he had even agreed 
with the mother. Love was right, was natural, but it 
was not right to indulge a child. Children should not be 
permitted to have their own way, even when their way is 
harmless, for in too much freedom lie the seeds of rebell- 
ion. Hisdaughter had not dared to disobey him. Bryce 
thought of the burning of The Age of Reason, pictured 
the scene in front of the temple, the gazing of the curious 
villagers, the stern aspect of the executioner; he thought 
of Alma, of her half-formed skepticism, of a keen intel- 
ligence which filial obedience kept covered from the view 
of her father. | 

Soon after dinner the visitors arose to go. Rain was 
falling fast. Bryce wrapped Mary in a shawl, and he 
fancied that she fluttered again when he touched her 
hair to arrange it on the outside of the covering. At 
home they found no visitors. Some of the girls were sit- 
ting about the center of the circular room ; some of them 
were asleep. 


120 ©{j) THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET: 


‘‘Must I sit here by you?’’ Mary asked, pointing to the 
hickory settee. 

‘Yes, if you please.”’ 

Judith came out of her room, singing. ‘‘I thought 
I heard your voice,” she said, speaking to Bryce. 

‘Your hearing must be wonderful, for I scarcely heard 
myself,” he replied. 

‘‘Oh, it was because you didn’t care to hear yourself,” 
she rejoined, smiling at him. She drew up a stool and 
sat down near Bryce. . ‘‘May I sit here, Mary?” she 
asked, and there was mischief in her eyes, a mischief not 
wholly innocent. There was a sweetness about her 
mouth, a half fierce sweetness, and there was a charm in 
her voice, but there was nothing spiritual in her quick 
eyes. ‘There was a sort of purr in her manner; she was 
a picturesque animal. 

‘“May I sit here?” Judith repeated, pretending not to 
have seen Mary’s nodded ‘‘ yes.” ‘‘I mean just a little 
while.” 

‘“Of course you may, since you have as much right 
there as I have here.” 

‘“Oh, thank you; but you know that I haven’t the 
right —that is, not to-day. How it rains; and, Joseph, 
you and Mary have had no chance to walk about at all,” 
she rattled on. ‘‘ But how charming a rainy day would 
be if it only kept near us those whom we want.” 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 121 


*“Yes,”’ Bryce spoke up, ‘““a rainy day makes a com- 
panion dearer to us, just as a dark night makes our fire 
the brighter.” 

‘* Good, Joseph ; but does it tune our ears for the words 
of wisdom? Have you enjoyed Councilman Boyle to-day 
more than usual?” ‘This was said with so fine, so wom- 
anly an adroitness that in her manner Bryce could scarcely 
find a trace of mockery. ‘‘’The Councilman is always 
entertaining,’’ he answered, and he strove to appear seri- 


- ous, but she saw the hypocrisy underlying his words and 


laughed at it. . ‘‘ Rachel,” she called, ‘‘come over here 
and get better acquainted with your husband.” 

‘‘T can see and listen from here,’”’ Rachel replied. 

‘And shout what you have to say,” Judith rejoined, 
laughing ; and Bryce, looking at her, caught a sudden 
change in her manner — her face had been soft and pleas- 
ing, but now it was hard and dark. Bryce looked around 
and saw Alma approaching. Judith got up. 

“Don’t let me rob you of your seat,’ Alma said, 
halting. 

‘Oh, no robbery at all, I assure you. I was going 
any way.” 

‘“ Not because I came, I hope?” 

‘*Do you really hope so? It is kind of you.”’ 

“Oh,” said Alma bowing, ‘‘perhaps it was but a 
thoughtless hope.’’ 


ao THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘*An unconscious virtue, no doubt,’’ Judith replied 
with a cold smile; and turning from Alma she thus spoke 
to Rachel: ‘‘ Would you become better acquainted with 
Joseph? ‘Then you must steal privileges that already 
belong to you.”’ 

‘*Come over and sit with us, Rachel,’’ Alma called. 
‘““You give us the opportunity to add modesty to our 
group.” 

Mary was nervously twisting a string that she had 


pulled out of the covering of the settee, and without look- ~ 


ing up she remarked: ‘‘ Why should there be such talk 
as this? One might not expect real sisters to live together 
in perfect harmony, but we should expect the Wives of 
the Prophet to be respectful toward one another. Rachel 
knows that she has a perfect right to sit here :. we all know 
that our rights are equal ; then why should there be such 
talk as we have just heard? Joseph, it is your duty to 
put a stop to it.” 

No one had expected this from Mary, and every one 
looked in surprise at her. Bryce felt that he was called 
upon to say something, but what should he say? To 
take sides would be to stir up strife ; to say nothing were 
a silent judgment rendered against Mary. Judith stood 
a short distance away looking at him ; Alma’s eyes were 
turned toward him. ‘‘ Children,” hesaid, laughing, ‘‘ let 


>” 


me tell you a story. 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 123 


**Oh, do,” they cried. And he told them a story, some- 
thing that he had read ; and they laughed at it, so humor- 
ous a life did it unfold to them, and when the recital came 
to an end they shouted for more. Now, in good humor, 
they were sitting about him, expectant, eager as children. 
He told them of a play he had seen, and as best he could 
he described the dazzling gowns worn by that wonderful 
creature, the leading lady ; and they clapped their hands 
and pleaded for another one just like it. Then he told 
them a distressing love story, and they put their arms 
about one another and sobbed aloud in sympathy for the 

eautiful girl whom a heartless father had locked up, but 
they tittered in tearful gladness when the hero broke into 
the strong room, seized her in his arms and triumphantly 
bore her away. ‘They were like the patrons of an early 
English play ; there were no absurdities, nothing was trite; 
there was no questioning, no criticism, but in the sweep 
of a new imagination all things were true and vivid. 

At supper they hastened through with the meal, hoping 
that no one, not even the Father, might visit them that 
evening ; and when they had returned to the Prophet’s 
house, they gathered about the story teller and begged 


”) 


him totellon. ‘‘ Now everybody hush,’’ one or the other 
of them would say. ‘‘Hush, now, everybody ; 
he’s going to begin.” He went into the Arabian Nights, 


frightened them with Blue Beard and was charming them 


124. THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


with Cinderella when a knock come at the outer door. 
‘‘Joseph,’’ called the voice of Councilman Boyle, ‘‘it is 
time that you all were in bed.” . 





CHAP LHR OT: 


The next morning was as fresh as though the world in 
its perfection of green and purple had at the word of the 
Creator first sprung into light. Under the down-pour of 
the sun, sheets of water that lay on the level about the 
village, threw a dazzle on the air. 

At an early hour Bryce heard the cry: ‘‘ Prepare ye, for 
the day of worship is come,’’ and he wondered if the 
entire day were to be given over to the wearisome mum- 
meries of old man Boyle’s religion. Bryce was as well 
acquainted with the creed as he cared to be; he had grown 
tired of it; turn it whichever way he might it presented 
nothing new—the novelty was dead. 

There was no cheerful talk at breakfast. Councilman 
Boyle was with the Wives and the Prophet, to remind 
them that it was no time for idle words; he sighed and he 
groaned. 

To the temple Bryce walked with Rachel, the other 
Wives following close, solemn, with heads bowed. There 
was not a sound in the village. Every foot-step was 
noiseless, the laughter of the children was hushed. There 
were no seats in the temple. Slowly the people filed in 

125 


DAs THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


and took their places. It was the first time that Bryce 
had seen so many of the people in a body, and he looked 
with interest upon them. They did not stare at him; 
there was no whispering when he entered the place of 


worship. The 
Father and the 


Councilmen oo hed Ne eg pa ee 
ee —\ Www ~ 


stood about the 
altar, and upon 
seeing Bryce, 
they stretched 
forth their hands 
toward him, and 
as he approached 
they made way 
for him to stand 
in the midst of 
them. 





ts AS 1 OW 
your duty to preach to the chosen of the Lord,’’ the 
Father said, and Bryce bowed in obedience. In front of © 
the altar was a low platform, and the Father motioned 
him to stand upon it. Bryce obeyed, and slowly he 
began to address them. He was accustomed to public 
speaking; he had won a prize for oratory. He began 
with the beauty of the morning: it was the smile of God. 


rere 


SHE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 127 


He spoke of the light in the eyes about him; it was the 
love of God. He recalled his rhetoric; he remembered 
the words of a prize essay and applied them with great 
effect. He took up the creed and made it appear a glori- 
ous instrument handed down from heaven. ‘The people 
were entranced. He drew a picture of the day when the 
Saviour of mankind should stand on the top of the east 
mountain—back of Him the'rising sun, in front of Him 
the astonished world, about Him the people who had 
waited so long for His coming. A loud shout arose, and 
ere he knew it, the Father held him in his arms. Coun- 
cilman Boyle stood there with tears streaming down 
his face. ‘‘God bless you, Joseph,’’ the Father cried, 
“‘yvou have thrilled my old heart with blazing words.’’ 
The Father released Bryce and then Councilman Boyle put 
his arms about him. ‘‘I was going to preach to-day,’’ 
said he, ‘but, Joseph, I will not attempt to follow you. 
You may be idle when you sit about your house or walk 
about the village, but when you stand here you are 
inspired.”’ 

Slowly they filed out. How full of affection were the 
eyes that looked upon the orator; old men and old women 
came forward to grasp his hand. And what effect had 
this upon him? What was he thinking about? He was 
wondering if they were going to have dinner at the regu- 
lar time or wait through pinching hours and at evening 


128 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


bolt a snack. ‘The Father, the four Councilmen and sev- 
eral women went home with him. Rachel sat beside him. 
‘‘T wish they would go away,’ she whispered. ‘‘ We 
want you to tell us a story. ButIknowthey won’t. But 
we have had enough religion for to-day. I could listen 
to you, though, ever solong. How different from what 
we have ever heard before.” 

‘““T didn’t eat very much breakfast,’’ Bryce replied, 
speaking low, “‘ and the information that we are soon to 
eat something would thrill me mightily. Are you 
hungry, Rachel ?” 

‘‘ Famished,” she whispered. 

They heard Councilman Boyle clear his throat. ‘‘My 
brothers and sisters,’ said he, ‘‘ I had intended to speak a 
few words to-day, but under the great light held aloft by 
Joseph, I felt that my feeble candle could but cast a 
shadow. , But I am willing now to give you the words 
which I thought that I had been inspired to utter.”’ 

Bryce groaned inwardly, and the girls looked troubled, 
but no one spoke. ‘‘I will deliver my few words,” the 
Councilman went on, ‘‘ and then we will eat something, 
for it is well that the body should be sustained. 

This was encouraging, especially if his words were to 
be but few. He began a discourse on the creed, and the 
Father sat with his head bowed. His religion was so old 
that he knew not the name of the man who had first 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 129 


received it, but the time was near the creation of the 
world, and the world must have been created a thousand 
years ago. Here and there he introduced a suggestion 
of biblical history. There had been a strong man, and 
with a club he had put ten thousand of his enemies to 
death ; there had been a flood, and all of the inhabitants 
of the earth, save forty, had.perished. He uttered one 
sentence that struck Bryce, and it was this: ‘‘In con- 
clusion I will simply add one more word.” But why had 
he gone out of his way to speak of adding one more word 
when indeed he was adding fifty? A woman came in and 
stood at the back of the Father’s chair. ‘The horn was 
not blown on the Sabbath, and she had come to tell them 
that dinner was ready. At last the discourse was ended. 
“Joseph,” said the Councilman, ‘‘ it is not expected that 
I should wave a torch as you do, but my light, though 
small, is a safe one to follow. Father, let us eat with 
Joseph.” 

At the table the Father took the lead. Bryce fancied 
that having heard so much from Councilman Boyle he 
was determined to talk in self-protection. ‘‘ Joseph,’ 
said the Father, ‘‘it has begun to seem that you have 
always lived among us, but in truth you have not been 
with us quite a week. We have all been happier since 
you came, expecting something from you, and that 
sernion to-day proved that we did not look to you in vain. 


130 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


But, mark me, we do not expect this of you every Sab- 
bath. Inspiration is not of constant flame; the fire dies 
down, and the coals are covered with ashes, and it blazes 
not until more fuel is brought. Blow not the coals ; wait 
until the fuel doth come.’’ 

‘“You told me that I was expected to speak,’’ Bryce 
replied, ‘‘and yet when you led me to the platform I 
knew not what I was going to say. Indeed, after I 
began, I knew not what I was saying, and it was not 
until you had seized me in your arms did I know that my 
words had been well spoken. When I entered the 
temple my brow was hot, and I felt a strange heaviness, 
and my relief came with the pouring out of that current 
of words.” 

‘‘ Joseph,” said the Father, reaching over and placing 
his hand on Bryce’s shoulder, ‘‘I compared your dis- - 
course to fire, you compare it to water, and the compari- 
sons are well drawn since your words warmed my heart 
as with a fire and cooled your brow as with water. ‘There 
have been many powerful discourses delivered in that 
Temple. I will tell you of one. It was when I was a 
young man, devout in the cause, it is true, but without 
the thought of ever becoming the Father. One Sabbath 
it was known that Councilman Brad, one of the oldest 
men among the chosen of the Lord, was to preach: It 
was a summer’s day and was cloudless after a season of 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. Besa 


rain. ‘The old manstood upon the spot where you stood 
to-day, and his words, too, came like a swift current. 
Ah, it seemed that a mountain dam had broken; the 
flood came with a roar. I stood near him, and in my 
strong imagination, I could see trees borne upon the tide. 
The flood ceased, the tide had run down. ‘The old man 
held up his hands. ‘The Father who stood near caught 
him in his arms and eased him down. He was dead. 
That man was my father.” 

A long silence followed. ‘‘ Father,” said Bryce, when 
he felt that he could speak without apparent rudeness, 
‘there is something that I desire to ask you. Did the 
soldiers of either army bring trouble upon you during 
the war?” 

‘““We were not wholly free from annoyance, Joseph. 
The country here about was divided. Some looked 
toward the North and others toward the South. A draft 
was issued by the South and soldiers came to force our 
men into the army. We told them that we cared not for 
the petty disputes that brought about a war on this earth ; 
told them to put down their guns and wait for the Saviour 
of mankind. ‘They laughed at us; they called us crazy, 
but they said that crazy mencould shoot. And they took 
a number of our young men away with them. But we 
knew that they would soon return if they should get an 
opportunity. And they did come back, nearly every one 


132 @ THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


of them, within two weeks. Soon after this the Northern 
soldiers came, and learning that we had taken no part in 
bringing about the war, that some of us had been drafted 
but had deserted, they decided that we must be in favor 
of the Union and they therefore extended us an urgent 
invitation to join them. But we told them as we had 
told the others, that we cared nothing for the world and 
her troubles, whereupon they called us lunatics and then 
helped themselves to our fodder and corn. I was not the 
Father at that time, but I went to see General Rosecrantz. 
He received me kindly. I told him that his men had 
robbed us of our corn and fodder; and at this he smiled. 
He said that his army needed corn and fodder. I asked 
him if it were expected that the chosen people of God 
should furnish him with whatever he needed. Hesmiled 
and said that he was inclined to believe that the chosen 
people of God were in his army. But I pleaded with him 
until he promised me that he would issue an order for our 
protection, and he must have done so for we were troubled 
no more. ’’ 
The afternoon was far advanced when they arose from 
the table. Bryce contemplated with a shudder the likeli- 
hood of returning to his house, and therein to sit and 
listen to Councilman Boyle, and he asked the Father if 
his walking abroad would be in ill keeping with the 
solemnity of the day, whereupon the old man answered 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 33 


that to walk was as worshipful as to sit, that it was the 
heart and not the attitude that praised the Lord. This 
decision cast a look of disappointment upon the face of 
Councilman Boyle; he had thought to make the rest of 
the day gloomy with another discourse. And the girls 
too were disappointed, for they had hoped to hear another 
story. Bryce requested Rachel to go with him to the 
west mountain to see the sun set. ‘‘ We shall not be gone 
long,” he took occasion to whisper to Alma, ‘‘and when 
we return I will tell you a story.” She smiled upon him 
and replied: ‘‘I hope that the sun will not lag, but fall 
down as soon as you get to the top of the mountain.” 
The distance was not great and the way was not rough. 
Bryce wondered what characteristic was to be discovered 
in Rachel; whether she had the jealousy of Judith, the 
shyness of Mary, the frankness of Silvia, or the cutting 
intelligence of Alma. ‘I don’t think that your brother 
Benjamin likes me very much,’’ he said as they walked 
along. He expected to see her show surprise, and to hear 


, her protest against so unreasonable a supposition ; but she 


did neither; she simply remarked: ‘‘ Benjamin does not 
always speak his mind, but he cannot always hide it.’’ 
‘*Oh! then you know that he does not like me ?”’ 
‘Benjamin believes in our faith; he is a student, and 
may one day be the Father of the chosen, but he isa 
human being. We are all human beings.”’ 


134 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘‘Ah! And by which you mean that in obeying a com- 
mand I have robbed him.”’ 

She looked at him. ‘‘’Then, if he does not like you, 
the reason is not covered up. Did some one tell you that 
he was to marry Alma ?”’ 

‘‘T know not whether some one told me, or whether I 
divined it.’’ 

‘“It was easy enough to tell, and easy enough to 
divine,’’ she replied. ‘‘ But let us change the subject. 
Joseph, you tell love stories so well that when you were 
in the world you must have been in love.”’ 

‘* No, I was never in love until I came to Bolga.”’ 
~ “But you tell of beautiful women, dressed in silk and 
flashing with diamonds. And is it not natural that we 
should love the-beautiful ?”’ 


‘“Yes, if the beautiful be good, but the beautiful is not - 


always good.”’ 

‘“But, Joseph, no one in the world is good, and you 
deing then in the world should have loved the beautiful 
of the world with no thought of the good.’’ : 

‘“Where did you get your philosophy, Rachel? You 
girls are constantly springing something upon me 
to make me think. You all possess a shrewdness 
that I can’t understand. I must go to your school 
and study the source of your argument. The Father 
has told me that in our academy the use of words isa 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 135 


feature, but the mere conning of words does not bring 
thought.’ . 

‘‘And still, without words we could not think,’’ she 
replied. 

‘‘Yes, that is true, and with words alone we cannot 
toi.” 

‘But you must know, Joseph, that our education does 
not consist wholly of words. We read books.’’ 

** But what sort of books? Harmless books, books that 
tell you but little of the world, of the thoughts that 
engage men.’’ 

‘‘Oh, then, books to be productive of thought must be 
harmful, must they?”’ 

‘‘I don’t mean that. I mean, though, that they must 
contain much that is objectionable to our religion. I can 
say this, however: Your school in a surprising degree 
teaches the art of expression. Hither of you girls would be 
a sort of an astonishment in a drawing room of the world.” 

‘“You pay us acompliment. Come over this way. 
There is a rocky place over there that is hard to climb. 
Look back. Is not that a peaceful view?’’ 

‘“VYes,’’ he answered, ‘‘it lies under a holy benediction. 
But let us hasten to the top. The sun will be gone 
before we get there.’’ 

‘‘ But here is the top,’’ she said. ‘‘ Don’t you see the 
slant begins there on the other side. You didn’t expect 


136 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


to find a peak so sharp, did you? Now let us sit here on 


this rock. Look at the sun almost under your feet. Now 


look over at the village. Itis almost dark there while on 


the other side of us we have the light of the universe. 


Could there be anything more beautiful?”’ 

‘It is far beyond beauty,’’ he answered; ‘‘it is glory. 
Never before have I seen the light and the darkness of 
the world brought into so sharp a contrast. God, I wish 
I were this mountain, forever to remain here, gazing at 
the sun rise and at the sun set, wrapping the night about 
me and throwing off the cloak at dawn.”’ 

Far away to the right and to the left there were higher 
mountains, but in front of them was one continuous slope 
into the fire-flood of the sun. Far down below a buzzard 
sailed across their view; one moment a bird of gold, the 
next a vulture, black. What was that change? A pur- 
ple shadow, creeping up the mountain side. And with 
this came the scream of a hawk and past them whirred a 
quail. ‘The shadow sobered to a pinkish blue, and now 
the pink was gone—the blue was deepening into black. 

‘“It is time we were going,’’ she said. ‘‘ We were not 
to stay long, you remember,”’ 

‘‘T know,’’ he replied, ‘‘but I could sit here always 
with you.”’ ; 

‘“ Why with me?”’ 

‘** Because I love you.’’ 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. Tet. 


Was she laughing at him? He thought so, and he 
asked: ‘‘Is it strange that I should love you ?’’ 

“It is not strange that you should respect me but 

-you do not know me well enough to love me, that is, 
beyond that degree of affection which you are commanded 
to bestow.” 

‘‘ And do you love me, Rachel, out of an obedience to 
command’? ’”’ 

“Yes, Iam a Wife of the Prophet.’’ 

‘“And does your love stop abruptly there?’”’ 

‘‘It goes no further but stops not abruptly. I shall 
fight against giving you a purely human love. ‘To love 
you thus might make me miserable.’’ 

‘But should it meet with a love just ashuman and just 
as deep. What then ?’’ 

‘“Joseph, I dare not think about it. You are possessed 
of the qualities that I should select for my natural hus- 
band. You worship nature and so do I. Your face was 
heavenly in the dying light; I thought that I saw the 
yearning of a great and noble soul, and that moment I 
wished that you might love me, forgetting all others, but 


the next moment I killed that selfish thought. You must 


not tell me that you love me better than you do the others. 


- It will make me doubt your sincerity and then I could not 


even respect you. No, Joseph, you must think of me as 
you do the rest. Come, we must go now.” 


138 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


She had surprised him ; her character was a revelation. 
Was she the deepest thinker of them all? Had she 
begged him without argument to love her, he would have 
told her that he worshipped her and would have thought 
but little of it, but now she had incited him to win her. 
As they were going down the slope he put his arm about 
her, and she gently removed it. He asked her if he had 
not the right to caress her, and she laughingly answered : 
‘Not when your caresses might cause me to stumble and 
fale 

They passed under the lantern that hung over the vil- 
lage well; they stood in the shadow that lay about the 
door of the Prophet’s house. 

‘* Rachel, one kiss.’’ 

‘‘Tnside, in the light,’’ she replied, laughing. 

‘‘No, here angel, where no one can see.” 

‘‘ Would you have me think less of myself?” 

‘‘No, but more of me. Quick, some one is coming to 
open the door.” | 

She thrust her hand into his. He drew her to him, 
held her in his arms, kissed her. Her bonnett fell off. 
He stooped to get it, a light fell upon the ground, and 
when he looked up she had fled from him. 





CHAPTER XII: 


Nearly four months had passed; the weather was 
growing cooler ; the men were gathering the flax. Dur- 
ing the days when the heat was fierce Bryce had pre- 
ferred to teach the school, and so marked an aptitude had 
he shown that the Father and the Council decided to let 
him continue with this work. But now that the days 
were cooler he longed to be out. He watched the men 
who had been detailed to gather the corn, and he thought 
that he would like to ride on the wagon. Often he dozed 
in his chair, and sometimes he was so nervous that he 
could scarcely sit still. He had expended his rhetorical 
force, and preaching was a dead drag to him. He was 
tired of hearing Boyle talk, tired of having anyone eat at 
the table with him, tired of everything. The creek no 
longer was musical ; the scenery was old, the west mount- 
ain was-an unsightly hill. His wives were peevish, 
sometimes tearful, sometimes angry. Their jealousies 
were keen of edge; they hated one another. He had 
amused himself with striving to win Rachel’s love; he 
had told her a thousand lies and had won her love, and 
now his strife lay in his efforts to keep down an outbreak. 

139 


140 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


She had told him that she would pull Judith’s hair and 
scratch Alma’s face; she had sworn to scald Silvia, to 
break modest Mary’s head with a broom handle. She 
had spitefully said to him: ‘‘ You wanted a human love; — 
now what are you going to do with it?’ But she was no 
worse than Alma and Judith. Once he heard Alma say : 
‘‘ Who, Judith! Oh, we don’t speak now.’’ Sometimes, 
though, they would all make up and have a love feast. 
Rachel and Judith would walk arm in arm, but how they 
did hate each other. ‘Throughout the village it was 
thought that life in the Prophet’s house was as perfect as 
divine guidance could make it. The girls were too proud 
to carry their resentments to the dining-table, and too 
religious to take them to the temple. ‘There were times 
when Bryce had so strongly felt that he must be alone 
that he had dismissed the school, and sneaked off into 
the woods. Once he remained there in the rain, although 
the day was cool, feeling that a chill was preferable to the 
drowsiness of the school-room or the bickerings of the 
Prophet’s house. He saw a hog sleeping alone in the 
wet leaves and envied him. oe 
The sight of those musty old books sickened him. He 
longed for a novel of to-day and, above all, for a newspaper. 
The vilest or the dullest sheet ever printed would have 
been a delight to him. He was sitting in the school-room 
thinking of all this when he heard some one say that a 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 141 


party of men were fishing at the Witch Hole. Hewasnot 
now afraid of discovery ; a dark beard almost covered his 
face, and his hair was long. It was likely that the fish- 


ermen were from the city, and oar 
that they had brought news- ea ds 
papers with them. He dared eS oie 
not bring a newspaper to the ce Pte 


village, but he could hide in 





the woods and stuff himself with the news of the world. 
And how dear had the wretched old world become to him. 
He dismissed the schqol. He would now sneak away. 


142 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


He set out for the nearest point of the woods. He passed 
near the well. Someone spoke to him. MHe looked 
around and Alma stood under the tree where he had sat 
watching the illicit distillers. ‘‘ Whither are you going, 
Joseph ?”’ 

‘‘T am simply walking.’’ 

“‘TLet me walk with you.” 

‘* But that will make Judith angry. You know that I 
belong to her to-day.’’ He was beginning to hate that 
belonging to any one, that daily transfer as though he 
were a chattel. 

‘Oh, you are always thinking about her.’’ 


‘“No, but I am always thinking of keeping down a 


disturbance.’’ 

‘You don’t love me as you did, Joseph.” 

‘‘Nonsense! you know Ido. ‘The truth is Alma, I am 
not well and I want to be alone.”’ 

‘* But if you love me why should you want to be alone? 
I don’t want to be alone when I could be with you.”’ 

‘There, now, somebody might hear you. You know 
that I love you better than I do any one, and if you love 
me you will do as I beg of you. Go to the house and 
don’t tell any one that I am not at the school.”’ 

He walked on and she did not follow him. He chose 
the rough way to the Witch Hole because it was the 
nearer. He rested on the top of a high knob, looked back 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 143 


at the village and muttered: ‘‘I wish that place could be 
blotted out.’’ He got up to pursue his course but he was 
still tired and he sat down again. The air was cool but 
there was-no refreshment in it; the sun was genial but 
languor was initsrays. ‘The tints of all seasons was 
mixed in the woods, gorgeous tapestries were spread upon 
the tree-tops, rich, flame-colored rugs were hung upon 
the sumac bushes, but their beauty thrilled him not. A 
mountain cow rang her bell, and quickly he looked 
toward her; it was a reminder of a street car. Down the 
slope he went; once he slipped and grabbed a bush and 
cried out with pain—a thorn bush. At the base of the 
knob was a spring, and on the moss and dying ferns he 
stretched himself to drink, and there upon his breast he 
lay, watching the minnows. Suddenly the memory of an 


b] 


old song—‘‘ Just Twenty Years Ago ’’—was flashed upon 
his mind; he had caught sight of a gray hair in his beard. 

He found no fishermen at the Witch Hole. He stood 
upon the shore and looked at the dead leaves slowly float- 
ing down, and he fancied that he saw a shudder, a cold 
chill, running up and down the creek, He thought that 
he heard voices, and stepping nearer to the water and 
looking up the stream, he saw a party of men. They 
were standing on a rock fishing where the current, meet- 
ing the opposing back water from the river, whirled round 


and round. On the hillside a short distance away, a fire 


144 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


was burning, and hovering over it was a man frying fish. 
As Bryce approached the men he heard them making 
remarks upon the comical peculiarity of his appearance ; 
one of them said that he would like to catch so odd a 
fish. Bryce spoke to them and asked them if they had 
met with good luck. They had caught a few bass, enough 
to eat, but not enough to pay them for their long journey. 
They asked Bryce if he did not belong to that strange 
village. He answered that he lived in a village not far 
from there, but that it was not strange in the sight of the 
Lord.  ‘ That-may be,’ one of them replied, -*“ butaitws 
strange to us; and we have decided to break camp to- 
day and go over there to takea look at the place.’’ Bryce 
asked him if he had a newspaper, and he answered by 
saying that the cook might have one. Bryce went up 
the slope to the place where the fire was burning. ‘The ~ 
cook said that he had a paper with some bacon wrapped 
init. ‘‘ But you may have it,’’ he added ; and just as he’ 
turned to go after it, Bryce caught a glimpse of an India 
ink star on the back of hishand. He was the waiter who 
had told him of the old sailor. _ And he was going through 
the village and the people would see that star and wonder 
at it, and ask about it. He would tell them that a man 
had picked it there and then what would they think ? 
Benjamin would ask to see the pictures on hisarms. ‘The 
chosen people had stood in awe of those images drawn by 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 145 


the lightning, and had never viewed them critically. 
The girls had looked at them, wondered over them, but 
Benjamin had glanced at them but once. Should he tell 
those men that strangers were not permitted inside the vil- 
lage? Just then he heard one of them say: ‘‘ Baxter 
says that they treated him kindly but wouldn’t tell them 
anything about themselves.’’ The cook came with the 
greasy newspaper and gave it to Bryce. The star appeared 
to have grown brighter. One of the men shouted and 
threw a small bass up theslope. The cook caught it and 
holding it on a flat stone near the fire began to scale it. 

‘Those fish are not frying fast Cenoush said Bryce, 
pointing to the pan. 

‘They are dancing in the grease ; don’t see how they 
could fry any faster.” 

““T will show you how,” Bryce replied. ““You don’t 
want a blaze but a bed of coals. I will fix it for you.” 

He took up the pan of bubbling grease, moved round 
nearer to the cook, stumbled—overturned the grease on the 
fellow’s hand. ‘The men below were startled by a loud 
cry and a fury of oaths. Bryce stcod there, bowing, 
wringing his hands, making apologies. He would not 
have done it for the world. He would make every pos- 
sible reparation, he would do the cooking. He knew that 
for his awkwardness he deserved to be thrown into the 
creek and he would not protest against it. It must have 

10 


146 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


hurt mightily. ‘‘Hurt,’’ the fellow cried, “the skin’s all 
peeling off the back of my hand.”. ‘‘Go down and hold 
it in the creek!’’ one of the men cried. He followed this 
advice, and Bryce muttering more apologies, sauntered 
away. He had forgotten his newspaper but it was safe, 


cae 









stuffed into his pocket. 
A, He climbed to the top of 
the knob whence he had 
pease looked back at the vil- 
AS aay lage, sat down with his 

back against a rock and spread out the soiled sheet. The 
paper had been printed in Nashville and was more than 
a week old, but that made no difference ; it was fresh 
in comparison with Bryce’s knowledge of the world. ‘The 





ee te ee ee 
g x 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 147 


first thing his glance fell upon was an undertaker’s adver- 
tisement, the picture of a hearse. ‘The name of the adver- 
tiser was familiar to him and he read it over and over again. 
Then he looked at another advertisement ; he was holding 
back the feast of news. Now came the news. A state 
treasurer had gone wrong ; the governor was criticised for 
a too free use of the pardoning power ; a rousing political 
meeting in the fourth ward ; a religious fanatic had slain 
his own child; man calling himself Christ was arrested 
for preaching on the public square ; another preacher gone 
wrong ; irate husband had threatened to kill a Congress- 
man; married man had run away with a sixteen-year-old 
girl; war cloud in Europe; a bright American woman 
had refused an introduction to the Prince of Wales; dens 
of vice exposed by a New York preacher ; New Jersey 
preacher arrested for bigamy ; famous actor stricken with 
paresis. And what wasthis? The Rev. J. Hartley had 
been called by the largest congregation in Tennessee. 

The sun was going down. Bryce dared not take the 
newspaper home with him ; he thrust it under a rock and 
hastened to the village. Judith met him. She told him 
that several strange men had just passed through the vil- 
lage, and that they had asked all sorts of questions. 

‘But why didn’t you let me know that you were going 
for a walk ?’’ she asked. | 

‘“‘T didn’t think I was going very far.”’ 


148 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘* But what difference did that make?”’ 

‘“Oh, I don’t know that it made any particular differ- 
ence. ‘The truth is I wanted to be alone. I am sick and 
tired.”’ 

‘‘But you are not sick and tired of me, are you?” 

‘Of course not. Now I hope that you are not going 
to take up that foolish notion that I don’t love you.”’ 


‘“But if you love me why should you want to slip off . 


from me ?” : 

‘“’There you go; same thing over and over, day after 
day. You girls are old enough to act like women.”’ 

‘“But don’t we act like women ?’’ | 

‘“Yes, that’s a fact. You do act like women, and I 
wish you wouldn't.’’ 

‘Joseph, I declare I don’t understand you. One 
moment you say that you want us to act like women, and 
the next moment you acknowledge that we do act that 
way and that you are sorry for it. But I want you to 
speak to Rachel, that’s what I want you to do.” 

‘‘ What has she been doing ?’’ 

‘“Called me a good-for-nothing thing.” 

‘‘And what had you called her ?’’ 

‘‘Hadn’t opened my mouth ; I declare I hadn’t. Silvia 


and I were sitting in the door and she came by and made ~ 


a mouth at me, and the ugliest mouth she could possibly 
make, too. And I simply told her that it improved her 


oe. ¢ 





yr THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 149 


appearance, and then she called me a good-for-nothing 
thing. I said that I was going to tell you, and she cried 
yah! yah! yah! right in my face.’’ 

‘‘And that was dreadful, wasn’t it?” 

“Oh, well, Joseph, if you want to take sides against 
me youcan. But I didn’t think it of you.” — 

“For gracious sake, don't cry right here where the 
Father or any of the Councilmen might see you.” 

“Tm not crying and I want you to understand that I 
am not, too. I just don’t want to be imposed on and if 
I tell you about it you say Iamcrying. But it makes 
me so mad that I can hardly see. If you don’t'love me 
tell me so and I will quit your house. There are plenty 
of other places I can go, goodness knows.”’ 

Supper was waiting; the Father had just sat down. 
‘* Joseph,”’ said the old man, ‘“several strangers appeared 
in the midst of us something like an hour ago, and I 
looked about for you but found you not. But they 
remained a short time only, for they were idle and asked 
questions that beseemed them, and we told them to go 
their way. One of them carried his hand in a sling and 
I asked him why, whereupon he replied that it had been 
burnt with hot grease. And then I told him that unless 
he quitted his idle prowling the burning which he might 


_ get in the future would be something hotter ten times over 


than any grease he had felt. They were disposed to laugh 


150 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET, a 


at us, -and I reminded them that oaken plants were 
plentiful, whereupon they took the hint and straightway 
left us.’’ 

‘‘T was over at the Witch Hole,’’ Bryce replied, ‘‘ and 
saw the fellow when he burnt his hand. He made great 
sport of my dress and was singing a bawdy song when 
the grease in a blazing shower flew out of a pan and fell 
upon him.”’ 

‘“Indeed!” the old man cried. ‘‘ A lesson in fire vis- 
ited upon the graceless rascal. Councilman Boyle must 
hear of this; it will do him good. Ah, and a strong text 
it will make for you the next Sabbath. It will be the day 
after to-morrow, and I wiil tell the brethren that you are 
to speak upon a thrilling theme. It is well that you were 
in the way at the time, for if it were a lesson to the ras- 
cal, it were also an illustration to be drawn upon.” 

‘(TF shall do the best Ican, Father, or rather the best 
that the Lord permits me to do, but of late the coals have 
had ashes upon them and no fresh fuel has been brought. 
You told me not to blow the coals.”’ 

“'Tyue, Joseph, but let us pray for more fuel, and if our 
prayers be uttered with faith, the fuel will come.”’ 

‘But, Father, should we not wait for inspiration in its 
own good time?’’ 

‘‘Toseph, we are told to pray for grace, and inspiration 


is a grace.” 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 151 


There was no way out of it. He was to prod his brain, 
jolt his jaded memory to fake another sermon. He hated 
the sight of the temple, despised his own voice arising in 
the rant of pretended fervor. Supper was over, and he 
said that he was going out to commune, to pray for 
inspiration. Judith asked if she might go with him, and 
the Father commanded her to go to the house and wait 
for her husband’s return. Bryce strolled toward the creek. 
He passed the rock whereon he and Judith had sat; he 
hated the sight of it. He went to the hollow rock where 
the water poured with notes ever changing but always 
deep. ‘The roar remained but the music was gone. He 
wondered if he were going insane. What was that crawl- 
ing through his mind? ‘‘A famous actor stricken with 
paresis.’’ A sudden resolution came to him, and he felt 
stronger, his mind grew clearer—he would run away. 
He sat down and thought deeply. He felt that Benjamin 
was keeping a close watch over him. If he should attempt 
to run away and fail, the chosen people would kill him. 
-At one moment he might be the God-appointed husband 
‘of the Wives; at the next moment they could look upon 
him as a traitor deserving of death. They would seek to 
follow him, but how far? ‘They would know not which 
direction to take ; they would not think of going to Nash- 
ville, so far away. To go farther would be better, but he 
had not money enough. With him he had not a penny, 


152 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


and at home he had but little. His law books were valu- 
able, but at a forced sale they would not bring more than 
half their worth. But a new sadness crept into his heart 
— the thought of leaving Alma. Away from the others 
he felt that he could be happy with her. About her there 
was a brightness, a softness that was ever pleasing to 
him. But suppose he should grow weary even of her? 
He could send her home. What! was he really thinking 
of taking her with him? It would not do to take her to 
the city ; that would be a scandal. But he could leave 
her somewhere until he could dispose of his books and 
other small interests ; then he could take her to some vil- 
lage, far away, and there live happily with her. He 
knew that she would go with him ; she had told him that 
to live alone with him would be an endless bliss. But he 


must wait a few days until he could be alone with her. 


He thought of Judith at the house, waiting for him. 


1»? 


‘“ Tigress !’’ he muttered. Darkness had fallen, the stars 


were out; it was time for him to return but still he sat 


there. He loathed the memory of Judith’s arms, yet ~ 


round and soft were they. He thought of the time when 
his lust was strong, when his blood leaped high to the 
touch of a kiss, and he sighed like an old man nearing 
decay, for his blood was cool, his passion—cinders. 

The village dogs were barking. Bryce passed the 
Father’s house and heard him at his evening prayer, 


+> wae 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 153 


heard the words: ‘‘ And O grant that Joseph may pour 
out thy holy words and thrill each waiting heart.’’ He 
stopped at the well to get a drink, but he turned loose 
the windlass as soon as he had touched it; he was afraid 
that its creak might call Judith to the door. Silently he 
entered the house, stealthily he made his way to the room 
in which he had sat the first night, waiting for the Father 
to return. Here he stretched himself upon the floor. The 
air was cool and he had no covering, but he had solitude, 
and that was a blessing. He had primed himself with a 
lie—he would tell Judith that he had fainted. A light 
burned in her room; the other rooms were dark. He lay 
there drawing a plan of escape. Heremembered that the 
Father had told the revenue officer to take a horse, ride 
him and turn him loose, that he would come back. ‘Two 
horses could return as well asone. Alma could ride a 
horse; he had heard her say that she could. They would 
ride to a point far down the river and then take some sort 
of a boat. He heard a door open. He peeped out and 
saw Judith going toward the front door. She stood there, 
looking out. Bryce felt the cold air that rushed past her, 
that fluttered her night dress. ‘‘Joseph!’’ she called, and 
Bryce sprang to his feet. ‘‘ Here, Judith. For gracious 
sake don’t cry out that way; you'll alarm the whole 
village.’’ 

She wheeled about and rapidly came toward him. 


154 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


Bryce advanced to meet her. They halted under the 
hanging lamp. She was pale and her lips were so tightly 
drawn that they looked thin. ‘‘ What were you doing in 
there, Joseph? ”’ 

‘‘T hardly know. I went into that room to get some- 
thing and must have fainted.”’ 

Her eyes snapped. ‘‘Did you ever faint when Alma was 
waiting for you?’ She laughed; it was almost a shriek. 

‘You are coming to me with more of your petulant 
nonsense,’’ he replied. 

‘“Am I?’ she cried. She was crumpling a piece of 
paper in her hand. ‘‘Ljisten to this!” she commanded, 
smoothing out the paper. 

‘‘ What is it?’’ he asked, moving toward her as if he 
would snatch the paper. ‘‘ No you don’t, Joseph.’’ She 
drew back; she was spitting at himlikeacat. ‘ Listen, 
I will read it to you.’’ And then in contempt and bitter- 
ness she read these lines: 

TO ALMA. 
Thy kiss is sweeter than the honeyed wax 
That clings to thighs of clover-robbing bees; 
Thy breath is purer than the gentle air 
That stirs the poplar bloom at eventide. 
Thy voice, oh Alma, daughter of the sun, 
Is like unto a god’s creative call, 


Commanding in my soul new loves to rise 
Until my soul is full of souls of love. 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 155 


Unconscious witch’ry prompts thy feet to move; 
And to thy step a thousand graces cling— 
Thy laughter bursts the perfumed buds of spring. 


One morn I slumbered softly toward the dawn, 
And dreamed that from the diamon’d dome above 
The morning and the evening stars came down. 

I woke, and lo! the stars in truth were there— 
Your eyes were fondly looking into mine— 

Had twinkled morn-dreams through my drowsy lids, 
Had lingered there to prove that dreams were true. 
Oh, hallowed be the memory of that morn, 

And unto death may all its sweetness last— 

Upon my breast your sun-lit tresses lay— 

You’d turned from bliss of night to joy of day. 


She wadded the paper in her hand and stood glaring at 
him. ‘‘ Well, what now?’’ he asked. 

‘What zow, you brute! Isn’t this enough? You pre- 
tend to love me and you write this miserable stuff to her.” 

‘Tf the stuff is miserable, and I don’t dispute you 
there, no harm has been done. Let me tear it.” 

‘No! I won’t!’’ she cried, springing back. 

‘Tf you'll just be calm a minute, Judith, I will tell you 
all about it. I was writing one day and Alma was with 
me. She innocently asked me to write something for her 
and I idly scratched off those lines. They mean nothing.” 

‘“Oh, of course not,’’ she replied scornfully. ‘‘ Noth- 
ing that you do means anything. But I will make this 
mean something ; I will take it to the Father.”’ 


156 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘Come back, Judith,” he cailed, following her to the 
door. ‘‘ All right then, go and show it to him, and he 
will tell you to go to bed.”’ 

She wheeled about and leoked as though she were ready 
to spring upon him. ‘‘ He would never tell me to go to 
your bed, wretch.’’ 

‘“And if he did,’’ Bryce replied, ‘‘I would swear to 
him that I would not follow you.’’ 

‘“Infamous brute!’’ ‘she cried. 

‘‘IT won't put up with your insults. Here, give me 
that paper.”’ 

‘*T won't, scoundrel!’’ 

‘“But you will give it to me!’’ a voice cried, and 
Alma stood there, pale, tremulous with rage. 

““Will I?’ Judith shrieked. ‘‘WillI?”’ Shesprang 


back, tore the paper into bits, threw them upon the floor, © 


stamped upon them, spat upon them. 

PELUZEYe & 

‘* She wolf!’’ 

They darted at each otner with fingers crooked and stiff- 
ened, and Bryce strove to get between them. Their hands 
were grabbled in each others hair ; they shrieked in their 
fury. The other girls came running from their rooms. 

‘‘Let them pull each other to pieces,’’ Rachel cried. 
‘* Fight ; I don’t care if you kill’each other.’’ 

‘*Oh, shame on you!’’ Silvia exclaimed, striving to 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 157 


help Bryce separate them. ‘They were like two dogs; 
they had shut their eyes ; they were panting and tugging. 
““Mary,’’ Bryce commanded, ‘“ go and tell the Father 


and the Councilmen to come here.’’ 


\ 


i), 






‘‘No!’’ Alma shrieked, try- 
i | ing to shove Judith from her. 
i | ‘‘Don’t do that, Mary ; for 
y / | iil God’s sake don’t.’’ Bryce 

\ i caught Judith about the waist, 
lifted her off the floor and 
carried her to the opposite side 


ofthe room. He put her down; she fell upon the floor 
and lay there, sobbing. Bryce bent over her, sought to 


158 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


soothe her. ‘‘ Get away!” she cried, ‘‘I hate you, I hate 
you all.’’ 
Bryce hastened to Alma and whispered: ‘‘ See if you 


can quiet her. It will be better for you and me. ‘Tell 
her that I wrote the lines for fun, that I told you they 
meant nothing. If you love me, beg her pardon. ’’ 

‘* A strong test of love, Joseph.’ ’ 

‘‘T know, but if you love me you will.” 

She went to Judith and bent over her. ‘‘I humbly beg 
your pardon,” she said, speaking slowly and looking at 
Bryce. ‘‘ He did not really mean those lines for me; he 
said they were better intended for you. Yes, he did; I 
will swear it.” She looked at Bryce. He nodded his 
approval, and she continued: ‘‘I know that he does not 


love me as much as he does you, but that is no fault of 


his. And you know I always loved you, Judith; you 


know I told them that unless you were elected a Wife of 
the Prophet I did not want to serve. There, now, get up 
and goto your room, won’t you? ‘The Father and the 


Council know nothing of this and shall know nothing — 


of it. Here, Joseph, she will go with you.”’ 





CHAPTER XILG 


In the school-room the air was close, and drowsy was 
the day. ‘The teacher was wont to look to the Sabbath 
as a time of rest, that being the only day when school 
was not kept, but now he thought upon it with disgust. 
He was to stand in the midst of those long-haired fana- 
tics and tell them that from a frying-pan the Lord had 
called forth hot grease wherewith to blister a scoffer. 
Troublously he mused over the scene of the night before, 
and he said to himself: ‘‘ A lover or a politician is a fool 
when you give him a pen.” At the breakfast-table all 
had been smooth, and Boyle, who had eaten with the 
Prophet and the Wives, had discovered no trace of their 
disturbance. 

The men were done gathering the corn, and the flax 
was drying in the sun. It would soon be time to draw in 
wood for the winter. Bryce reflected that the horses had 
rested, and that now they could travel far in a night. 
The day after the Sabbath he could be alone with Alma, 
and on the night thereafter they must leave the village ; 
it would not be wise to wait until the horses should be 
jaded with the drawing of the wood. 

159 


160 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


The time came for the children to read their composi- 
tions. Several of the parents were present, and an old 
man stood near the doorway to catch the mumbled words 
of a grandson. At last the school was dismissed and, 
weary and with a headache, Bryce turned toward the 
woods. 

‘“T will go with you, Joseph.”’ 

He looked around and saw the Father approaching, 
‘You are welcome, Father,” he-said, telling his groove- 
worn lie. ‘‘ Indeed, I-was looking for you.”’ 

‘‘T thank you,’’ the old man replied, taking his arm. 
‘Whither shall we walk?” 

‘“Your way, Father, will be a pleasant path to me.” 

The old man pressed Bryce’s arm close to him. “Ah, 
Joseph, you are daily becoming more and more of a de- 
light to us all, and it is with distress, my son, that I 


sometimes mark your nervousness. Of late you have - 


been keeping too close to your school; I told Councilman 
Boyle that we would better relieve you of those confining 
duties, but he has been loth to agree with me, so strong 
a faith has he in your ability to teach the young. I think 
that it would be well to grant you a hunting season. 
Much game, I am told by Councilman ‘Trent, still 
abounds in the woods. Ah, my_dear son,’’ and closer 
still did he draw Bryce to him, ‘‘ our little Silvia has with 
much modesty confided to her mother a glorious news of 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 161 


herself. All is well, Joseph, and that was all I wished 
to say. I will now leave you to walk alone, to commune, 
for the brethren do expect much of you to-morrow.” 

The old man turned back and Bryce walked slowly 
onward, now under the trees where the yellow leaves 
were falling, now down into the gulch whither the dead 
leaves were drifting. He sat upon a stone with his feet 
resting upon a mat of gray grass that clung to a patch of 
soil. He uncovered his head that the cool air might fan 
him. He thought of Solomon, the wise man, and won- 
dered not that he had written of the vexation of the spirit. 
Now he would not have argued that to follow the prompt- 
ings of nature, no matter what those promptings might 
be, was a pardonable philosophy. And how weak a pro- 
tection was simple innocence. Throughout the whole 
Christian world was not the education of girls a false and 
dangerous training? Was it better to keep them in 
ignorance of evil, to let them steal a knowlenge of that 
evil? A wisdom stolen tempts a stealthy use. ‘‘ What 
am I trying to think about?” he asked himself. ‘‘ What 
do I know or what do I need to care about the education 
of girls? In this world there is no woman to dis- 
grace me. Why is it that men are so much afraid of 
being humiliated by their daughters? They have no 
such fear of their sons, and yet the penitentiary is full 
of sons.’’ 

11 


162 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


He heard something and looked up. Benjamin stood 
near him. ‘‘ Have I disturbed you, Joseph?”’ 

‘No, I was not thinking, I was vaguely floundering’ 
about.” ‘This was so near a truth that Bryce wondered 
at it, was surprised at his own voice as he uttered it. 

‘Then you were not trying to eak an inspiration?”’ 

‘* Benjamin, your words are almost irreverent.”’ 

“ Pardon me, Joseph, I knew not what I was going to 
say. ‘To break a colt we need one bridle; to break a 
tongue, we need ten.” 

‘*Sit down, Benjamin.”’ 

‘‘No, I will stand here. Joseph, did you ever think of 
the anguish a man can endure for the sake of his religion ?” 

‘‘For religion, Benjamin, the greatest anguish of this 
world has been endured. Men have stood in fire praising 
God.”’ | | : 

‘Yes, but the fire consmmed them and they suffered 
nomore. There is torture, though, that is worse than fire. 
Ice on the heart is worse than fire, Joseph.”’ 

‘‘Yes, and a corpse shrouded and stretched stiff upon 
the mind is worse than a fire, Benjamin.” 

‘“What do you mean?” Benjamin cried, moving closer 
to Bryce. ‘‘Who -has- a corpse on his mind ?793He 
stood there with his hands pressed against his head. 
‘“ Has such a vision been given you? God, man, you are 


\ooking into my brain. ‘Take your eyes away.”’ 


ay Pd 


wl a ee re 
A oP . ~ 
he hy 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 163 


Bryce looked down and he heard Benjamin’s iron shod 
shoe heels striking hard against the rocks. He was alone. 
Night was eoming on and dark shadows lay about him. 
A wind came with the shadows and and dead leaves 
whirled at his feet. Before dark he must return to the 
village ; his footsteps were not steady and he was afraid 
of falling. 

The night had been feverish. Early at morning Bryce 
heard the Cry Preparer ye: tor the day of worship is 
come.’’ And he mused that once more he must torture 
his weak and sickened brain until it should cry out in a 
frenzied yeip. At the breakfast table old Boyle was wait- 
ing for him. ‘The morning was bright and the merigolds 
at the door having escaped the first frost, were blooming 

afresh, but the old man’s face was severe. ‘“Joseph,’’ he 
_said, when Bryce had sat down, ‘‘I hop? that the Lord 
will be with you to-day.’’ 

‘I hope, sir,’’ Bryce replied, ‘‘that He may be with 
me and you, not only to-day, but until time shall cease, 
and then remain with us in eternity.’’ 

“Tt is well, Joseph. You speak as one who has medi- 
tated, and I trust that in your sermon to-day you may 

_ dwell upon the anguish of the sinners that scoff at salva- 
tion. ‘Tell us not of flowers, for in a rosebud may lie hid- 
den a seed of iniquity. The devil would deaden our 
senses with a sweet perfume that he might easier steal 


164 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


thesoul. Tell us of the thorn that pricks us onward toward 
our duty. Inthe Temple I shall not attempt to preach 
to day, for texts have flown me by, but I charge you and 
your wives to come unto my house when your sermon is 
done, for then will I unfold to you the hidden beauties of 
our holy creed.’ 

Bryce felt that his flesh was raw, and that the old man ~ 
had given it a dash of powdered salt. Here was a galling 
prospect: to sit within doors, and to hear that nasal- 
twanged voice grate and grind on a subject that had 
become sickening. He could force himself to preach his 
own sermon, but again to listen to old Boyle was a strain 
more than he could bear ; he fancied that he could hear 
his nerves shrink ; he felt that they had been shredded . 
and hung in the air about him. 

‘‘Did you understand me, Joseph ?”’ 

‘‘T do, sir ; but I must tell you that I cannot be there. 
I am not well, and to sit in a room after having gone 
through the labor of my own sermon will be too severe a 
tax. In your words, sir, there 1s wisdom; but a sick 
man needs medicine, rather than wisdom, and unless the 
Father commands otherwise I shall seek the tonic of 
fresh air.”’ “4 

The Wives had looked at one another, and now were 
looking at Bryce. The Councilman had put down his 
knife and fork, and had sathimself back from the table. 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 165 


‘“What, rebellion !’’ the old man said, slowly and 
deeply pronouncing the words. ° 

‘“ No, sir; not rebellion, but protection. You have no. 
authority to command me.”’ 

“Sir, Iam a Councilman of the chosen people of God.”’ 

‘“‘I grant you that, and I respect your office, but to 










ge) ¥ Gj; 
by y| 
4 
iy 
oe 
8 el 























lecture me is not one of your duties. 
I claim no privileges except those 
om) which the creed has granted, but I 
Ai Vy assert the individual right, while 
et eZ, out of the Temple, to listen or not to 
listen, to sit within doors or roam about. You have 
taken it upon yourself to be my special adviser, but let 
me tell you that I need no special advice.”’ 
“‘Rebellion!’’ muttered the old man, getting up; ‘‘rebel- 
lion !” he repeated, turning toward the door. A shadow 
fell upon the threshold and the Father stood there. 


166 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘‘What did I hear you say, Councilman poe >? the 
Father asked.. 

‘“Vou’ heard me say rebellion,’’ the Councilman 
answered, ‘‘but I may have used the wrong word. It 
was this way, Father, and when I have set it forth you 
will see that I was indeed provoked: I told Joseph that 
he must come to my house after preaching in the temple, 
and that I would thereupon unfold the beauties of our 
creed, whereupon he replied that he would not be there. 
And does not that come near being rebellion?’’ 

‘Councilman Boyle,” said the Father, ‘‘ we all know 
that to listen to you is to hear the words of true wisdom, 
but Joseph is not well and therefore you should excuse 
him.”’ | 

‘“ Which I most heartily do,” replied Boyle, Steppilg 
back and shaking hands with Bryce. 

‘‘Ah, brethren,’’ the Father graciously said, ‘that is 
the spirit that should prevail among the chosen of the 
Lord. Let us give thanks that among us it is as much 
our spirit to forgive as it is to ask forgiveness. But come, 
my dear brothers, our people are going toward the tem- 
ple, showing their eagerness to Bae Joseph, and it is not 
right to keep them waiting.” 

When Bryce stepped upon the platform aud turned 
toward that array of solemn faces, he wondered what 
Hartley would think could she see him now, striving to 


: Se Ss 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 167 


tear, to rip out of himself a tatter of words wherewith to 
edify a congregation. His nervousness was plain upon 
him, but his physical disturbance soon aroused a mental 
emotion. Simple words came to him with new strength 
in their meaning; pictures followed, pictures as bright 
as the leaf rugs which the sun, the frost and fancy had 
painted upon the sumac bushes, far away on the hill. 
For weeks his brain had refused him light, and he had 
compared it to a pile of wet straw, but now he had forced 
it to burn, and he felt that he was standing in a smoke 
anda glare. Striking out from him with his fists, he 
thrust upon them the scoffer and the blazing pan. Loud 
groans arose and amid them was a wild shout of joy, the 
revenge cry of Councilman Boyle. Hesprang upon the 
platform and caught Bryce in his arms, for the sermon 
was brought to anend. He hugged him and shouted in 
ecstasy. ‘‘The seal of glory is upon thy revenge, O 
God!” he cried. ‘‘ Pour Thy blazing wrath upon the 
scoffers of Thy people. Blister not only their hands, O 
Lord, but burn their hearts to a dead crisp; burn their 
blood and the blood of their children, born in sin and in 
enmity to Thee. Let their flesh quiver in agony; let 
their tongues be torn out and cast to the buzzards of 
the air. Joseph, my dear brother, forgive me for the 
harsh words I spoke unto you this morning, for I was 
blind, and in my deafness I could not hear the inspiring 


168 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


words that rumbled in your soul. Go to the woods, go 
to the mountains, in the valley to seek your rest, for I 
shall strive not to instruct you. You are far beyond me; © 
you are inspired of the Lord.” 

The congregation was slowly filing out. The Father | 
stood there with his arms folded. ‘‘ Yes, Joseph, ’ he 
said, ‘‘seek your rest. Your words this day were born to 
live forever. In the gorges of the mountains will they 
lodge; into the rocks will they eat their way, and when 
at last the pernicious of the earth shall refuse salvation, 
those words like a fiery lash will scourge them into 
torment.’’ 

Bryce walked home alone and no one followed him. 
His wives were gathered in the circular room and they 
whispered and looked in wonder at him when he entered. 
They were stricken with remorse; they strove to be af- 
fectionate toward one another. 

‘‘Sit down in the midst of us, Joseph,’’ Judith re- 
quested, making room for him. He sat on the settee and 
there was no dissension as to who should take the place 
beside him. 

Rachel went swiftly to him, stood beside him and gently 
putting back his hair asked if he would forgive them for 
their wickedness. ‘‘Oh, we have been just as bad as we 
could be,’’ she said, ‘‘ and we deserve to be punished, but 
we do hope that you will forgive us. We all love you.”’ 





THE WIVES OF THE PP.OPHET. 169 


He looked up and smiled at her. Judith saw the smile 
and she said: ‘‘Rachel, you would better sit down. 
Joseph is tired.’ ’ 

‘* But I am not leaning on him, sister.’ ’ 

““T know, but you might worry him.’’ 

‘“No I won’t. Let me alone, please.” 

‘‘I’m not doing anything to you, I am sure. I just 
told you not to worry Joseph when he is tired.’’ 

‘Oh, I know what you just told me, and I know also 
that you never think of his being tired when you are near 
him.” 

“JT think it is time for both of you to hush,” said 
Alma. ‘‘ The first thing you know you will be quarrel- 
ing 

‘“T am sure some people can talk without quarreling,’’ 


9? 
° 


Judith replied, and Alma rejoined: ‘‘I am sure some 
people cannot.” 

‘Do you mean that IJ am one of them ?’’ Judith asked. 

‘“Am I indeed so vague that you have constantly to 
ask me for my meaning? I have been told that my mean- 
ing is nearly always clear.”’ 

‘Tf you are going to quarrel,’’ said Bryce, ‘‘I will go 
to the woods. ‘‘I thought that you wanted forgiveness. 
And is this the way you merit it ?”’ 

‘Please forgive us, dear Joseph,’’ Alma pleaded. ‘‘ It 
was my fault again and I ask your pardon.”’ 


>. thn tg en see oe 
4 cr 


170 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘“No, Alma,” said Judith, ‘‘it was not your fault; it 
was mine, and I beg of Joseph to forgive me."’ 

‘‘But can’t he forgive us both at once? ’’ Alma insisted. 
“It won’t take him any longer and it won’t put him to 
any more trouble to include me in his forgiveness.’’ 

‘“'That is just like you, Alma,” Judith declared. 
‘You always want to be included in everything.’’ 

‘Are you going to hush, or must I go to the woods? ” 
Bryce asked. 

‘‘T am hushed,” Alma answered. 

‘‘So am I,’’ said Judith. 

‘* And it is time,’’ Rachel spoke up, ‘‘ for here comes 
Benjamin.’ 

The young man came in and Silvia got up and gave 
him her stool. With a bow and a smile he acknowledged 
her courtesy, but he said that he preferred not to sit 
down ; he had but a few moments to stay ; he simply de- 
sired to speak to Joseph. ‘‘I have heard the Father say,” 
he went on, ‘‘that you are not well, Joseph, that you 
need rest, and I told him that I would take the school 
off your hands for a few days.” 

‘* Benjamin, you are exceedingly kind, and gratefully 
shall I accept your offer,’’ Bryce replied. ‘‘ I think that 
freedom from care, that lolling about in the woods for a 
few days will bring my strength back, and I wish you 
to tell the little people that I shall soon be with them 


a 





od Tee ll 7 
v<é ay & 
7 s¢ 

ae 

js * 

Hl 

, ‘ 

‘ 
i 

“ |= 

\ 
4 
\ 
=a 
- 
‘ 
, s 
ee 
‘ 
1 
, i 
, 
© 
on 
+ 
‘ 
* 
+ 
« 
— 
j 
’ 


vat 


LAIRD « Lee 





“ Speak out, Benjamin,” 


Page i745 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 171 


again. Won’t you sit down. Stay and go to dinner 
with us.” 

‘‘No, I eat to-day with Councilman Trent. Will you 
permit me to see you alone for a few moments ?’’ 

Bryce walked to the door with him and there they 
halted. For atime Benjamin was silent ; he appeared to 
be embarrassed. ‘‘Joseph,’’ he said, ‘‘in the strength 
and fire of your eloquence you can do much; verily it 
seems to me that you can almost move a mountain.’’ He 
hesitated and looked down. 

‘“What is it you would ask of me, Benjamin ?” 

‘‘T am so weak of words and so fumbling, Joseph, that 
I fear that my wish, no matter how I present it, will seem 
rude and sudden to you. Let us walk out here.” 

They walked out to the well, and Bryce stood with his 
hand resting on the curbing. Benjamin looked down into 
the dark water. He made several attempts to speak ; he 
turned his back upon Bryce; he walked off a short dis- 
tance and came back to gaze again into the well. | 

‘‘ Speak out, Benjamin.”’ 

‘““T will try. I may have doubted at one time that you 
were —I can not say that I doubted the truth of your 
mission. Waita moment: At one time it seemed hard 
that you should have come to claim the Wives ; that after 
so many generations the fulfillment should have come 


when my — my heart was at stake.” He was wiping his 


172 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


face with a handkerchief. Bryce waited for him to con- 
tinue. ‘‘ There are numerous mothers and grandmothers 
here who’served as Wives of the Prophet, and afterward © 
they became the natural wives of loving husbands. And 
to be a Wife of the Prophet was simply a postponement . 
of the temporal marriage. Several of the girls who are 
now your wives were engaged to be married, but your 
coming forever set those engagements aside. You are 
graceful and handsome, and upon seeing you they fell in 
love with you, ah, and with a deeper love than it was 
thought that a Wife of the Prophet would give unto him. 
Among those girls, Joseph, is Alma. She was engaged 
to marry me, but she was chosen. I could not object, for 
I was proud of her. But the Prophet came.” He was 
silent again ; he leaned far over and gazed down into the 
well. ‘‘ When the temple bell rang, my heart shook,” he 
continued, ‘‘and when I saw you my heart broke. I 
stood there and beheld you marry her ; I heard you whis- 
pering to her ; I saw her eye kindle, and I knew that she 
had forgotten me.” 

‘‘Wait a moment, Benjamin. What you say may all 
be true, but. was it any fault of mine? When I was di- 
rected to come hither, did I know that I was to break 


hearts and set my feet upon the hopes and longings $: 





‘* Joseph, I beg of you not to misunderstand me,” Ben- 


jamin broke in. ‘‘I know that it was no fault of yours,. 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 173 


I know that you had not been consulted but had been di- 
rected. But let thatpass. JI am now coming to my re- 
quest. When I heard your sermon to-day, I felt that 
nothing was beyond the influence of your words; I felt 
that any request that you might make of the Council 
would be granted, and therefore I beg of you to make a 
request. Meet the Councilmen in the Temple, tell them 
that Alma has received all the honors that could come— 
I do not mean that, exactly. Tell them that Alma has 
served faithfully as a Wife of the Prophet, and that in 
view of the substitution of some other maiden, you will 
consent to the setting aside of the ties that bind her to 
you, that you will give her to me. Don’t say that it 
cannot be done, Joseph; don’t say that they will: frown 
upon it, for nearly all things are possible with you. It is 
a bruised, a broken heart that is pleading now, and I im- 
plore you not to turn from it. Took down deep into your 
soul and see if something does not command you to heed 
my request. I dreamed that God in His sweet mercy 
would make this duty known to you, and I beg of you to 
reflect, to see if He has not. “And if you think that He 
has, tell the Council so.’? 

Bryce knew not what tosay. It was his time to fumble 
about for words, ‘‘ But Benjamin, suppose that Alma 
should not feel that it is her duty to obey? Even grant- 
ing that I could move the Council, what about her ?’’ 


174 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘* Make her feel that it is her duty ; make her tremble 


under your words. _No, argue gently with her.”’ 

This indeed was a time for Bryce to lie and helied. He 
saw that Benjamin had worked himself almost into a 
frenzy and that not to humor him would be extremely 
dangerous—might ruin the plans that he had laid for 
Alma and himself. ‘‘ Benjamin,’’ he said, ‘‘I will do 
what you ask, and I feel in my heart that my request will 
be granted. But first I shall talk to Alma, for then I can 
tell the Council that it is also her wish. Wait!’ Benja- 
min had leaped over the well and was striving to grasp 
Bryce by the hand. ‘‘ Be careful; some one might see 
us. ‘To-morrow I shall be alone with Alma 5 we will 
walk in the woods together, and the next day I will meet 
the Council. Hush ; there comes a woman to tell us that 
dinner is ready.” 


oy 


AT, 
= 
Pd 
yf 


CHAPTER XIV. 


Harly at morning while Bryce was walking about the 
village, he met Alma’s mother. She appeared happier 
than usual and when she had drawn near, she said: 
‘“God bless you, Joseph, you and my daughter, and God 


bless a promise that is made known unto her.’’ She did 


not stop, but straightway to the weaving room she went, 
singing a quaint oldsong. Benjamin went into the school- 
house, and Bryce saw the children slowly following him. 
A little girl came along. She looked earnestly at Bryce 
and told him that she was so sorry that he was not well. 

‘*T shall be well within a few days,’’ he replied, ‘‘ and 
then I will come back to you.” He lifted her from the 
ground, kissed her and putting her down, told her to run 
along, that school was takenin. He was waiting for 
Alma who was at home putting her room in order. She 
came smiling, singing, fresh as a hazel bud. She asked 
him whither should they go, and he replied: ‘‘ Let us 
climb the west mountain and sit on the top. Will that 
suit you?”’ 

“To sit any where with you, dear, will suit me,”’ 
she answered. 

175 


176 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


They passed the school house and saw Benjamin eagerly 


looking after them. 
They climbed to the 
spot where Bryce and 
Rachel had sat, look- 
ing down into the fad- 
ing sun. They heard 
the ringing of axes; 
the men had begun to 
cut the winter’s wood. 
Alma spread a shawl 
upon a rock and they 
sat upon it. 

‘* Joseph, it is heav- 
enly to be alone with 
you. And oh, the 
time has been so long. 
I wonder if it seems 
so long to you?”’ 

‘It has been an eter- 
nity, precious. Alma, 
I wish that you and I 
could live together, 
away off somewhere; 
I wish that we had 









re 
= 





——— 
SS 





<< 


met in the world and were now of the world.’’ 





THE WIVES OF THE: PROPHET. ier 


‘Do you really?” she asked, taking both his hands 
and pressing them to her cheeks. 

“Yes, in the world, of the world and alone. It is 
impossible to keep up a pretense of love; it is a natural 
impulse to smile upon the one we love, but when I smile 
upon you there is jealousy and rage. I thought that I 
could write my love and silently give it to you, but no, it 
was louder than if it had been shouted from the top of 
the T’emple.’’ : 

‘I am so sorry that I lost those lines,’’ she said. 
**And I don't see how I did. Won’t you write them 
again?’’ 

‘‘ Ves, some time.’’ s 

They sat in silence, she playing with his hand, he 
wondering how he should make her, without a shock, 
acquainted with his plans. One girl had run away from 
the village and had come back miserable, degraded, to 
beg for mercy and then to die. He was afraid bluntly to 
tell her of his scheme, afraid to hear himself pronounce 
- the words that should place him before her in a new and 
unexpected position. He turned and looked down at the 
village; he saw a woman at the well, saw a man anda 
boy grinding an axe. 

. “How plain everything is down there,’’ she said, fol- 
lowing his eyes. ‘‘There is Benjamin standing in the 
school house door.”’ 

12 


Bete we ce 
F 


178 THE WIVES OF THE- PROPHET. 


‘* Alma, if it were in my heart to hate a man I should 
hate him.” 

She looked searchingly at him. ‘‘ Why should you 
hate him, Joseph ?” 

‘* Because he was to be your husband, to kiss your soft 
lips.” | 

“Who told you that ?” 

‘‘T dreamed it night after night until I knew that it 
was true.” 

‘“And I do not deny it, Joseph. Yes, he was to 
marry me.” 

‘“But did you love him ?”’ 

‘As love then went, I did; but as I have found love 
to go, I did not. Between the love I gave him and the 
love I give you, there are rivers and forests and mount- 
ains, so great is the distance. He is strong and quick at 
his books ; but you are noble and quick to find the beau- 
tiful secrets that nature has hidden in the woods. He 
could interest me, but you thrill me. My heart listened 
to him, but my soul is eager to catch your words. I know 
but little of the nature of the woman who lives in the 
world to-day ; the life that I have read about lies far back 
in the past when speech might not have meant so much, 
but when it was adorned with figures. Women then pro- 
fessed to love the noble and the brave. I am one of those 


’ 


women, and you are noble and brave.’ 


\ 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 179 


“There are women of the world to-day who love the 
noble and the brave,” Bryce replied, ‘‘ but their mothers 
and their fathers would have them lovemoney. A woman 
may marry for love, and yet she will teach her daughter 
to marry for money. In the world the preachers tell us 
that the love of money is the root of all evil, and the 
next day they accept a call at a higher salary. In 
the world we may respect a poor man, but in that 
respect there is a shade of pity. It is hard to believe 
that poverty is virtuous. But we are getting away 
from the subject. You would have been happy with 
Benjamin.” 

“‘T should have been contented, but not happy, Joseph. 
You brought happiness, and had you not come I should 
never have known the true meaning of the word.’ 

**But, Alma, in that stream of happiness, which should 
be so pure and clear, there are muddy streaks and the 
drifting trash of jealousies.”’ 

‘* Yes, Joseph, for human nature lives even in this quiet 
village, and who is so human as a wife?” 

‘*A husband, Alma. And now, with religion put 
aside, should we not love each other with a passion purely 
human, strong, devoted?” 

** What do you mean by putting religion aside ?” 

**T mean that should we not love each other beyond 
the command of our creed?”’ 


180 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘“ Love is born of God, Joseph, and no love is stronger 
than God’s.’’ 

‘Have you forgotten that book you read, ‘The Age 
of Reason’ ?” 

‘“No; but that book did not teach me to disbelieve in 
the love of God.’’ 

‘True; but it inveighed against creeds.’’ 

‘“Not against mine ; it knew nothing of my creed.” 

He fell into a meditative, uneasy silence. She talked 
on about the things that surrounded them, the high rocks 
to the left, the view sloping down into the west. He 
knew that she would go with him, that for him she would 
trample upon her creed. In many respects she was 
stronger than any woman he had known, and he knew 
that she loved him with all her strength. In a sentence 
he could tell her that she must run away with him, but 
how could he do so without giving her a shock? He put 
his arms about her and held her close against his breast, 
told her that with her he could live the life of a woodcut- 
ter in the mountains and be happy ; that without her he 
could but look upon God’s heaven as a wilderness. And 
fondly she kissed him, told him there was no heaven 
sweeter than his smile. s 

Now his time was come, and yet he could not speak the 
words; he stumbled and fell short of an utterance of 
them. The conditions were not favorable; the sun was 


> 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 181 


too bright; the ringing of the axes, far away, annoyed 
him. He would wait for the coming of darkness. 

They heard the dinner horn and homeward they slowly 
strolled, picking red haws that grew by the way. At the 
table Silvia said that after dinner Mr. Joseph must not 
think that he could take himself off to the woods, that 
the girls had too long been cheated of a story that was 
due them. Alma protested. She said that Joseph was 
tired. 

‘‘No doubt he has talked all the morning,” Judith re- 
plied, ‘‘ but he has not talked to us and I think that we 
ought to share his vacation.” 

‘* Won’t you please tell us a story,” Mary pleaded. ‘‘It 
is so dull at the house when you are not there.’’ 

‘Ves, little one, I will tell a story,” Bryce answered. 

‘“‘VYou wouldn’t agree to tell it when I asked you,” 
Judith spoke up ; “‘but I suppose you will let me hear it.”’ 

They sat about him in the circular room and he told 
them a story of love, of the devotion of a woman, her 
bravery and the sacrifices she made. For the man she 
loved she turned her back upon her father and her reli- 
gion, and the neighbors said that misery would be her lot, 
but God gave her days of happiness and sweetened her 
nights with joyous dreams. 

‘‘Oh, you must like that story yourself,’’ Rachel cried. 
**You tell it better than you told any of the others.”’ 


"d 


182 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘Ves, I like it,” Bryce answered, ‘‘ for it is full of the 
devotion of woman, and her devotion is her glory. She 
was created for sacrifice, to be the tenderest and purest 
of God’s creatures, or the vilest scum of the earth.” 

‘‘ But if she is tender and pure how could she be vile ?” 
Mary asked. | 

‘‘ Little one, the world sees to that; the world has 
robbed purity of its bread and scornfully has commanded— 
‘Go into the gutter and be filthy in order that you may 
Catars: : 

‘‘T don’t know what you mean,” said Silvia, “but I 
don’t like to hear you talk that way. ‘Tell us another 
story; something to make us laugh.” | 

‘“’There was an echo from the world,’’ Bryce replied. 

‘“Does the world want to laugh?’’ she asked. “‘If it 
does it can’t be so very bad. When children laugh they 
are good, but when they cry they are bad.” 

‘‘Ladies,” said Bryce. laughing, ‘‘ You are too swift 
forme. I can’t keep up with your little conceits.”’ 

He told them a story that made them laugh and they 
skipped about him like children in @ frolic, and they were 
teasing him for more when Benjamin looked in upon them. 

‘“Joseph, may I see you a moment?” he asked. 

_ Bryce went to the door and Benjamin motioned him to 
come outside. Bryce followed him to the well. ‘‘ Have 
you told her?’’ the young man asked. 








THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 183 


‘“‘T have lead her up to the very point. I found that I 
had to be cautious, but I will tell her.’’ 

““'When?’’ 

‘To-night.’’ 

‘Did you ask her if she loved me?” 

“Yes, and she said that she loved you devotedly.’’ 

‘‘God bless you, Joseph. I trembled all last night. I 
thought over what I had asked you to do, and it seemed 
an enormous piece of sacrilege, but where there is so deep 
and true a love, Joseph, how could there be a sacrilege? 
My heart and my soul yearn for her and should I be pun- 
ished for that? I love my religion and I expect one day 
to be the Father of the chosen, but I love Alma and who 
put that love there? You say you will tell her to-night, 
Joseph?”’ . 

“‘Yes, we will go away in secret and I will then tell 
her that she must obey my command.” 

‘‘And do you believe that she will be willing even 
though she loves me to leave the Prophet’s house?” 

*“When I tell her that it is the will of the Council, she 
will thank me with tears of joy in her eyes.’’ 

‘“Oh, can there be so much happiness on this earth? 
Joseph, at the end of the street back of the temple there 
is a house in which no one lives. Last night when I 
could not sleep I got up and went to look at that house, 
and I prayed that she and I might live there, and your 


184 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


words make me feel that we shall. What time to-night 
can you let me know, Joseph?” 

‘Perhaps not at all to-night. Come to my house early 
at morning. Go to your room and remain there all 
night, praying. Do not move about as though you are 
anxious. I don’t want the Council to suspect that you 
prompted the request which I shall make.” 

‘‘T will do as you direct, Joseph. I must now go back 
to the school. Early to-morrow morning I shall be at 
your door.” 


CHAPTER XV. 


When the day was done, when supper had been eaten 
and the clatter of dishes was no longer heard, Bryce 
strolled alone about the village. He went to the Stable, 
into the room where the bridles were kept; he looked at 
the horses and picked out two that he thought were the 
strongest. He opened and shut the door time and again 
to find out whether the hinges would creak. Sheep skins 
served the purpose of saddles, and he selected two, put 
them into a corner and covered them with straw. 

He strode toward the Prophet’s house, he heard the 
rocking of rude cradles and the songs that women were 
singing to their children. He had told Alma that when 
darkness should come he wanted her to go to the woods 
with him, that he had something of most serious conse- 
quence to say to her, dnd as he approached the house he 


‘saw her standing in the door, and drawing near enough 


for the light to fall upon him, he motioned her and she 
came to him. 
‘‘T am ready, Joseph.”’ 
“Don’t speak loud ; I want no one to hear us.”’ 
‘¢ Whither shall we go?” 
185 


186 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘To the beech tree near the hollow sounding rock.” 

They made no noise, they met noone. ‘‘ Sit here on 
the rock,’’ he said when they reached the tree. ‘‘Oh, you 
are going to spread a shawl. You are considerate.’’ 

They heard the cry of an owl mingled with the roar of 
the falling water. ‘‘ Alma, I am going to tell you some- 
thing that may shock you.’’ 

‘Then you must be going to tell me that you do not 
love me, for that alone could shock me.’’ 

‘“No; I am going to tell you that I worship you.” 

‘‘ That warms my heart but does not shock me, Joseph.” 

‘“But that worship may lead to a shock. You know 
that I have many times spoken of the happiness that 
would come to us if we were alone.” 

‘“ Yes, Joseph, we are alone now and happiness is with 
us.”’ 

‘Ves, we are alone for the moment but within a short 
distance from here are others that have a claim upon 
me; and I have grown to love you until I despise that 
claim. Oh, that we were of the world, in the world and 
alone. You have been taught to despise the world, but 
the world belongs to God.”’ 

‘* But the people are not His chosen ones, Joseph.” 

‘‘Some of them are. In cities, within hearing of the 
_night-cry of vice, where the black shadows of sin are lying, 
there is virtuesweet andsimple. But we care naught for 


tu \ ei 
™’* 
. 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 187 


the world, but for each other. Alma, I want you to live 
alone with me. Look,” he said rising and bending over 
her, ‘‘the village is dark, the people are sinking to sleep. 
Let us fly from this place, go far away and live in each 
other’s love. I cannot endure it here any longer; I can 
endure it no where without you. ‘The horses are waiting 
for us, the sun has darkened the world that no one may 
see us, and by the time the light of morning shall come we 
can be faraway. Listen to me. Love is my religion 
and you are mycreed. The religion of this village is 
narrow and soul-stifling. Your mind is too broad to live 
in it. Alma, you look for the Saviour of mankind. Hehas 
come; He came nearly two thousand years ago and suffered 
death on across. Your religion was the invention of a 
fanatic, your fathers and your grandfathers were deceived.” 

She sprang from the rock. ‘‘ What are you telling me!” 
she cried. 

‘That Iam a man; that I was not inspired to come 
to this place ; that I love you; that I want you to be my 
wife as the world knows a wife. ‘‘ Alma!” he cried, 
catching at her, but she sprang back. ‘‘ Don’t touch 
me !” she commanded. ‘‘ You were not inspired? And all 
this has been a deception. Merciful God ! can this be true?” 

“‘Alma, listen to me ; go away with me.” 

‘‘T will not listen to you ; I will not go away with you. 
If you have deceived God, you would deceive me. Don't 


188 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


you touch me. Give me time to think. Oh, what have 
you told me!” she sobbed. ‘‘ Oh, my heart is bleeding !” 
She sank upon her knees, sobbing. ‘‘ What have I heard ! 
What have I heard !” she repeated over and over again. 
He strove to lift her. ‘‘ Get away !” she shrieked, spring- 
Ine tO chersiceticc.4 Gers pack. you base creature; I hate 
you. To come among us—” She broke down. — 

‘* Alma, it was my love that revealed all this to you. 
The horses are ready : come with me. I will take you to 
a city; I will show you what life is. Nothing but love 
could have wrung such a confession from me. Come, 
Alnia;” : 

‘‘Tf you touch me I will try to kill you!” she cried. 
‘* Don’t you follow me.’’ 

““Come back, Alma! What, you are not going back 
to the village?” 

‘‘T am going to my father’s house,”’ she sobbed. 

‘*You shall not! Stop; I will choke you.” 

She sprang away from him and was gone. He dared 
not follow her. It was now a question of saving his own 
life. She would soon reach the village and spread the 
news of his infamy. The men would be after him like a, 
pack of wolves. The moon was rising. He wheeled 
about and started down the creek. | 

‘*Stop !” a voice commanded. Benjamin stood in front 


of him. 





“Tt you touch me I will try to kill you !”’ 


Page 188, 


oe 
a 

. 

. 

f] 
ae 
iw he 
ae 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 189 


‘* What do you want ?’’ Bryce asked. 

‘Man, I don’t know what your name is, of all the 
scoundrels that ever slimed the face of the earth you are 
the lowest. I heard what 
you said to Alma. I could 











pray no longer, and I came 
out here, not with the inten- 
tion of watching you, for I 
knew not which way you 
‘went, but I heard you and 








_ , - S —< ~ y 
Perey Se “| ; 
an 2 i yaa a tl 


that is sufficient. You are going to the village with me.’ 


‘‘Ilam not; I am going my owh way.”’ 


190 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘Yes, and your way leads to hell; but first you are 
going with me.” 

‘“Stand aside! I don’t want to hurt you.” 

Benjamin leaped forward to seize him. Bryce caught 
up a stone with a sweep of his hand, and, still holding it, 
struck Benjamin on the head, and senseless he fell to the 
ground. 

Down the creek Bryce ran, scrambling over the rocks, 
plunging through the darkness, now in the black shadow 
of a cliff, now in the glimmering light of the rising moon. 
He stumbled and fell down a steep place, and a stone 


dislodged by his scrambling, rolled down and fell upon 


him. He was sure that one of his legs was broken and 
he cried out in anguish, and frightened at the alarming 
loudness of his voice, he listened breathlessly, expecting 
to hear the tramp of hurrying feet. He got up, and limp- 
ing, struggled onward, but in his eagerness he soon for- 
got his lameness. Now he climbed the cliff whereon he 
and Silvia had stood; the moonlight lay about him and 
he hastened down the other side into the shadow. Where 
the way was level, he ran; where it was rough he struggled 
hard, taking dangerous chances at every jump. Here 
were the dells, and across the creek was the deep gorge 
that seemed to invite the stream to quit its ancient 
course. Here was the Witch Hole. He halted, and 
panting, stood for a moment on the brink. Again he 








THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 191 


fancied that he saw a shudder, a cold chill running up 
and down the creek. Moonlight fell upon the pool, and 
he saw dead leaves floating round and round. He listened. 
No sound save the far off cry of a night bird and the 
whimsical bark of a fox. He wheeled about and ran 
down to the river. His intention was to cross the stream, 
and in the hope of finding a canoe he walked up and 
down the bank, under the dark, overhanging trees. There 
was no canoe. He heard thecold water rippling against a 
snag. He gazed toward the opposite shore—an intangible 
smear of black—dreary, frightening. But he must cross. 
He found a drift log and hestrove to roll it into the water. 
One end was buried, and he got down on his knees and 
dug away the sand like a dog scratching after a mole. 
He rolled the log into the water, pushing it out, and sprang 
upon it. It turned and into the river he was soused. 
He clawed at the log and it turned over and over. The 
water benumbed him and his teeth chattered. His feet 
touched a sand bar, and he pulled the log toward him and 
got upon it, lay on his breast with his legs hanging in 
the water, paddling with his hands. He must fight the 
‘current and wait fora bend in the river to land him on 
the opposite shore. He was below the place where the 
steamboat had landed him, and he knew that the river 
was crooked. The moon was above the timber and the water 
was shimmering. He wondered whether he could be seen 


192 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


from the shore, and-he tried to lie closer to the log. He 
now was well out and he knew that the first bend to the 
left would land him, but he saw no prospect of a bend. 
An hour passed and he was slightly beyond the middle 
of the stream. What if he should thus float until morn- 
ing? They would shoot him, pick him off like a turtle. 
He wondered if he had killed Benjamin. He thought 
that he had felt his skull.crush. But no matter, it had 
to be done; he would have dragged him back to the village 
and old Boyle would have skinned him alive. Strange 
that Alma should have refused to go with him. He had 
not been adroit enough, he had been too sudden. How 
was he to rid himself of his preposterous clothes? He 
had no money, not a penny. ‘The plan had been badly 
drawn, and miserably had it been executed. 

Far below he saw the shore line jut out in a cape of 
darkness, and he knew that he was nearing a bend in the 
stream. Hard now he struggled against the current, but 
the log began to turn and he had to scramble to stay on 
top. Yes, it was a bend, the whirling of the current 
proved it, proved also that it would be no easy place to 
land—no low lying point, but a bluff of rocks. Faster 
and faster the current flowed and the log seemed to be 
moved by the spirit of excited flight. He heard a roar 
as if a storm were struggling amid the tree tops. He saw 
a wall of rock; saw the foaming water leap in the moon- 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 193 


light. He strove against the current, to pull his treach- 
erous craft out further into the stream. ‘The log turned, 
whirled around, threw him off, sped away from him, was 
gone. Over and over he was thrown, struck the rock feet 
first, was tossed up, was caught again by the flood, sucked 
under, spewed up; round and round he was whirled like 
a chunk in a suck hole, struggling, almost exhausted. 
Again he was thrown and this time he caught a point of 
rock, threw his arms over it and held there. And how 
sweet to him was this chancé to breathe. He.looked up, 
far above into the dim lace work of the night, and he 
thought to pray, but he was ashamed—ashamed to appeal 
to Him who had forgiven a thief on the cross. He 
thought of the criminals whom he had seen in court, ofa 
wretch who had murdered an old woman, but in that 
docket of crime he could find no one so little deserving of 
mercy as himself. 

The water was pulling at him and his arms were tired. 
There was a whirlpool between him and the main rock. 
Should he tempt it? He must needs do something; he 
could not much longer hold his place. What was that 
dark, bobbing streak between him and the bluff? He 
reached forth with one hand, with difficulty holding on 
with the other, and felt something. It was his log, braced 
against the point of rock and the main wall. But should 
he attempt to straddle it and to cross? And what might 

13 


194 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


he find at the end? He would make the trial. The log 
danced up and down and the current almost sucked him 
under it, but gradually he worked his way to the end. 
The place was not wholly dark, but the circuiting moon 
was leaving it in the shadow. Whatever he decided to 
do must®be done at once. He felt along and founda 
break in the rock, a bench, but what was above? He 
could at least get out of the water. He climbed upon the 
bench and feeling upward, found another breach, more 
pronounced than the first one. He climbed upon the 
second ledge. He walked along, crawled through a 
broad seam and found another landing, higher up the 
bluff. Now he was amid a struggling growth of cedars, 
and he sat down torest. He wondered what time it 
could be. It was not much beyond midnight and he was 
many miles below the Witch Hole. He strove to picture 
the scene in the village. He could see the Wives of the 
Prophet, hurrying about in their excitement; he could 
catch the features of Councilman Boyle, fury-stricken; 
could see the Father’s sad face, could hear the mourning 
over the dead body of Benjamin. 

He resumed his climbing and soon was at the top of the 
bluff. He rested again and then sheered off to the left, 
going gradually down into the sweet gum timber of the 
bottom lands. But now he was so worn that he could 


scarcely walk, and coming toa place where leaves had 





; THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 195 


drifted, he lay down to sleep until morning. He awoke 
with the sun in his eyes. There was no road and he 
bore off from the river. He was faint and hungry and 


wean rene 









a aol 


ma 1»\ 


i) Nat alk 
Pee 








Ms 


sy 
sas i 


s¢ t 
i ee. c wl ery } 
Pee ALLA RN on i vf 
: IE Ls «all R 
iy, Re. 


—— es, 


his progress was slow. He 
asked himself that if he 
should come upon a house 





would it be safe to stop and 
ask for food? His appear- 
ance would excite suspi- 
cion, not indeed that he was a criminal but that he was 
insane. He had no hat and his hair was tangied. There 
was one thing that must be done; he must rid himself of 





196 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


his clothes. He came to a road and he heard a saw mill, 
but he dared not go near it, and he was walking along the 
road, but not in the direction of the mill, when he met 
an old negro. 3 

‘* Good morning !” 

The old man drew back. ‘‘ I doan’ know. sah, whuther 
ter run er way fum you or not.” 

‘“Tam not going to molest you, uncle.” 

‘*T doan’ know ’bout dat, sah. Is you sho 


you ain’ 
gwine grab me?”’ 

‘*T will not touch you.” 

‘Well, sah, I’ll be ’bleeged ter you fur dat.”’ 

‘* How far am I from Campbell’s Bend ?” 

‘* Doan’ know; sah ; neber wuz dar.” 

That was good news. He had passed it, had come a 
long distance. 

‘* Well, how far is it to a town ?” ; 

** Wall, sah, it ain’t so mighty fur ter Gum P’int, but 
it ain’ much o’ er town w’en you gits dar ; but den I doan’ 
know whut you want wid er town no how. Peer like 
most any place is good er nuff fur you.” 

‘““Ves, for Iam a humble preacher of the gospel of the ~* 
Lord.”’ 

‘‘Oh, is you. Den you oughter tole me fo’ I flung 
dem sarcastics at you. T’ma mighty han’ ter fling dem 
things, Itell you. Da waz talkin’ ’bout runnin’ me outen 


Ph 
‘Se 
y 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 197 


dis neighborm netghborhood once jest caze da feered 0’ 
me, I cuts ’em so wid dis yere tongue. So you is er 
preacher. Wall, I has done er little 0’ dat sort 0’ bus- 
ness mersef.’’ 

“Then I may call your brother,” said Bryce, slowly 
advancing toward him. 

‘“Doan know ’bout dat,’ the negro replied, drawing 
back cautiously. ‘‘ Kain’t settle dat p’int till I knows 
whut yo’ faif is; but ef you is one deze year Cam’llites 
I’se feered 0’ you.” 

‘*T am a Methodist,’’ Bryce said at a venture. 

‘*Whut’s dat, er Meferdis? I’se wid you, fer I’se one 
way down yere in dis yere heart,” 

‘‘T am indeed glad to hear it, old man, for I have a 
favor to ask of you?” 

‘‘Whut is it, sah, but lemme tell you it ain’t quite time 
0’ day to begin doin’ favors. But whut you want me ter 
de?’ 

‘‘T want you to exchange coats with me. My coat is 
better than yours and has twice as much cloth in it. 
What do you say?” 

‘*T says, sah, dat I ain’t pleased wid de cut o’ dat 
gayrment, but I’1l swop on er count o’ de clof. Yere, 
gimmy yo’ coat fust. I doan wan’ you ter take my coat 
and run off widit. In dese days I’se sorter ’spicious 
eben o’ bruders in de church. Bruder in de church tuck 


198 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


er red hankerchuck fum me some time er go an’ I ain’ 
seed ’im since, Gimmy. Dat’s right; yere’s mine, 
Thankee, sah, but doan’ ’sist on swoppin’ britches fur dar 
ain’ ez much clof in ’em ez dar is in mine, an’ ef you try 
to make me swop I'll hatter fight you.”’ 

‘“ Now can you give me something to eat?” Bryce asked. 

‘What, is you got mo’ fabers ter ax? I’se got er 
mouful yere in dis bucket dat I was gwine take wid me 
whar I’se choppin’ wood, but I needs it merself caze my 
appertite is monstus. But I kaint see er pusson suffer, so 
I'll gin you haf o’ it.”’ 

‘*You are a gentleman ever if you are black.” 

‘“Look yere, man, doan come talkin’ dat er way, caze 
I’ll be fo’ced ter gib you de whole business. Nowy, sah, 
yere you is, an’ I wushes you good luck; an’ good day.” 

Onward Bryce went, greedily eating the old negro’s 
corn bread and bacon. And in his brown jeans coat he 
felt that he was one more degree removed from the village 
of Bolga. But he must havea hat, and he must rid himself 
of those knee breeches. He passed a cabin and saw a 
negro woman washing under a tree, and on a fence a 
short distance away he saw some clothes hanging. He 
quickened his steps, for his mind was made up ; he would 
sneak around to the fence to see if he could find a pair of 
trousers. ‘The woman had not seen him. What if this 
were the place where the humorous and kind-hearted old 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 199 


negro lived? No matter; this was a time when gener- 
osity must be placed under additional contribution. He 
heard the woman singing. She straightened up to wring 
out a garment and Bryce got down behind the fence. She 
spread the garment on a bush and returned to her tub. 
Bryce crept along the fence until he was under the clothes. 
He reached up, snatched a pair of cottonade trousers and, 
bending over, ran into the woods. He soon stopped run- 
ning, but he walked some distance before he ventured to 
try on the trousers. ‘They were too short for him, but 
they were not nearly so short as his knee breeches. He 
was wretched, but he had to smile at himself, at his 
shrewdness. 

Now it was his aim to go to some town, get shaved, 
have his hair cut, return to the river far below, and on a 
steamboat work his way home. A woman came along 
the road, riding an old mare with a colt following. The 
mare shied, the colt ran up, sniffed at Bryce, wheeled 
about and. kicked at him. 

‘‘He won’t hurt you,” the woman said. ‘‘ He’s just 
full of his pranks; the children have spoiled him.” 

He asked her how far it might be to Gum Point, and 
she answered that it was not more than two miles. ‘‘ Are 
you going there?’ she asked. ‘‘I left there not more 
than half an hour ago, and there was considerable excite- 


ment going on. Some men came into town with a lot of 


200 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


hounds and were looking for some man that had got away 
or something of the sort, I couldn’t exactly find out 
what.” 

‘You say they were looking for a man ?”’ 

‘‘ Yes, that’s what I understood.” 

‘“Did they say what the man had done?” 

‘As I say, I couldn’t exactly find out; but I gathered 
that he ran away from some place up the river, I think.” 

The woman rode on and Bryce turned off into the 
woods. ‘They were on his track with bloodhounds, and 
it was his floating down the river that had thrown them 
off. He had seen dogs about the village, but had not 
supposed that they were bloodhounds. He argued that 
to go to Gum Point would be reckless. Would it not be 
wise to return to the river, hide until night, and then float 
down the stream? But would not those keen and rest- 
less hounds sneak up and spring upon him in his hiding- 
place? He wondered whether it would be well to sur- 
render himself to the authorities, to demand the protec- 
tion of the law. But he knew that the law would not 
protect him against the demands of those stern men, com- 
ing with justice as their plea, with vengeance as their 
natural right. But he must do something. He heard a 
twig snap, and he wheeled about with a cry of fright. 
Then he tried to laugh at his timidity ; he had been 
frightened by asquirrel. Off to the left the timber looked 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 201 


thickest, the undergrowth rankest, and thither he went, 
sneaking, startled at every noise. Painfully he worked his 
way into the midst of a thick patch of blackberry briars, 
and there he lay down; but his reason, active agent of 
alarm, told him that the briars would not serve as a pro- 
tection against the hounds, that they would glide through 
them like a snake; and out he came to look for another 
place, to push onward toward a spot where the timber 
appeared thicker. He knew not that he was going in the 
direction of the river; he might be going toward the 
town. When in despair it is man’s nature to call upon 
God, it is a final resort of the scoffer, the atheist, but 
Bryce shuddered as he turned hiseyes upward. Strongly 
now he believed in a revengeful God and in a personal 
devil, and he fancied that if he shouid pray he could hear 
the devil snicker. He remembered having said to Hart- 
ley that the adage, ‘‘ virtue is its own reward,” was a 
senseless phrase, but how full of meaning it now appeared. 
“Tf I keep this up I shall go insane,” he mused. ‘‘ But 
may I not be insane at this very moment? How do I 
_know that I went to a village called Bolga? I don’t know 
but that I have imagined it all, that I have been in these 
woods for weeks. I once knew a man who trembled for 
years lest he might be assassinated by agents sent over by 
the English government. He believed that he had com- 
mitted a great crime against that country; perhaps I 


202 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


merely imagine that I have wronged a community called 
Bolga.” But he rolled up his sleeves and gazed at the 
pictures on his arms. ‘‘ But even this may be fancy. 
Oh, hell! what is the use of this nonsense. I am worse 
than Cain and the universe hates me. I am to be torn to 
pieces by dogs and my bones are to be picked by buzzards. 
But my soul, merciful Christ, what about my soul? Did 
I not tell her that you had come, that you had been 
crucified? But why did I tell her? Was it to acknowl- 
edge a truth or to weaken her faith in her father’s creed?’’ 

He was so tired that he was compelled to rest and he 
sat down with his back against a tree. He was deter- 
mined not to think ; he would pull his thoughts to pieces 
and scatter them. ‘The air hummed a drowsy tune and 
he sank to sleep, and he dreamed, not of frightful things, 
but of freedom, of pleasant walks amid scenes that mem- 
ory, holding dear, had mellowed ; the thrill of a victory 
at school came back to him, and he stirred in his sleep. 
A girl whom he loved attempted to throw a ball and he 
laughed at her charming awkwardness. He sprang to 
his feet. A dog scampered away, ran a short distance 
turned back and growled at him. He was not dreaming 
now. Another dog, another, still another, five hounds 
ran up, snarling, yelping. He heard a horn, he heard a 
man shout. He turned and fled. ‘The hounds followed, 
snapping at him, but they were cowardly and he caught 








THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 203 


up a stick and fought them off. He thought that his 
safety lay in the river ; the sun-was almost down and the 
men might not see well enough to shoot him. He could 
hear the horses floundering in the bushes far behind. ‘The 
dogs were growing bolder and one of them snapped him 
and he siezed a larger stick and fiercely turned upon them. 
But they surrounded him and while he was fighting one, 
another was snapping at him. They would tear him to 
pieces. He seized a grape vine and climbed up amid the 
thick branches of a beech tree. Here he was safe from 
dogs, but the men were coming. His eyes fell upon an 
open space: he saw the men gallop across it. They were 
under the tree. 

‘*Come down!” one of them cried. ‘‘Come down, 
Toney, or we'll have to shoot you.” 

What did they mean by calling him Toney? But he had 
no time to ask questions; he saw a gun pointed at him. 
‘““We give you credit for making a good race. Why, 
hello here, Bill, this ain’t our man!” Bryce was now 
holding the grape vine within full view of them. He 
saw that they were not the men of Bolga. ‘‘ Gentlemen, 
may I ask why you want me?” 

] gad, that’s something we’ll have to ask you. We 
are working a lot of convicts on a new railroad away up 
the river and one of them got away, and these half hounds 
simply got on the wrong track. Call ’em off, Bill. Not 


204 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


worth pizen enough to kill’em. Mighty sorry, sir, that 
we've put you to this trouble. Hope you ain’t bit.” 
‘“No, not much, but I have been scared nearly to death. 
I am a lone and wandering preacher, seeking to do good 
in obscure places, but you have brought back a reminder 
of the old days of persecution. But it was all a mistake 
of those miserable dogs and I cannot charge you with an 
evil intention. But you have caused me to lose my hat 


and I have no money wherewith to buy another. It was” 


an humble covering, sir, but it was the only one I had.” 

‘‘Sorry. Say, Bill, give him your hat. You’ve got 
another one at the stockade.” 

‘‘Give him yours. You’ve another one, too.” 

‘‘T’ll do it. Here you are, old man; hop down.’’ 

Bryce put on the hat, a wool slouch, thanked the giver, 
and then asked him how far it was to Gum Point. 

‘‘ About four miles. Want to go there? Well, hop up 
here behind me.”’ 

It was village bed time when they clattered into the 
town, and without having attracted much attention, Bryce 
was put down near a shanty wherein a light was burning. 
He asked a boy if there were a barber shop in the place, 
and the boy pointed to the light in the shanty. Inside he 
found a negro barber scraping the hot jowl of the village 


drunkard. Bryce told the barber that he wanted a shave 


and a hair-cut, but that he had no money. The negro 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 205 


replied that years ago he had got out all the fun there 
happened to be in the shaving and hair-cutting business, 
and that now he looked upon it not as a dissipation but as 
a necessity. The village drunkard got out of the chair, 
looked at Bryce and said: ‘‘If you had come about the 
time timothy was ripe some fellow might have mowed 
your crop for you. Dinged if you don’t need it. Where 
have you been ever since the sereech owls went to roost? 
Hah, where have you been? -Preachin’? You look it. 
Sort of a Sampson in the flock, I take it. But mebby 
you oughtn’t cut off your hair; might lose your grip. 
Yes, reckon you are a Sampson, and, by the way, 
I’ve got some gate posts I’d like for you to move. Get 
away from that door there, boys; go on to bed and be up 
and at your books bright and early to-morrow. Wash, 
cut the brother’s hair and scrape his hide and I’ll pay 
you for it. And say, brother, can you sing? If you can, 
we ll go out and have a time. I’ve got some peach 
brandy that will pull a tooth. Ain’t that so, Wash? 
Hah, ain’t it so? You bet it is. Don’t want any? All 
right, sit down here now and Wash will fix you. Glad 
to meet you; been looking for you a long time. Thought 
you might get in yesterday, but you didn’t. Well, I 
must go. Charge it to me, Wash.”’ 

The negro entertained Bryce with stories of his bene- 
factor. He was the smartest lawyer in the county and 


206 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


would have been in the legislature long ago had it not 
been for whisky. He had saved many a man’s neck. 

When the work was completed Bryce asked directions 
to the nearest steamboat landing, and the negro told him 
that the surest place to catch a boat was Smedley’s Bend, 
about seven miles distant. 

‘“By the way, have you anything to eat here?’’ Bryce 
asked. 

He had brought his dinner but had nothing left. 
‘‘Look and see,’’ the hungry man requested. ‘The bar- 
ber took down a basket, stirred up a piece of paper that 
was in it, and said that there was nothing but a few 
scraps. ‘‘ Well, give them tome. One who serves the 
Lord in out-of-the-way places is satisfied with the scraps 
that fall even from the poor man’s table. Now tell me 
which road to take. Straight ahead? Thank you. 
Good night.’’ 





CHAPTER XVI. 


The east was aglow by the time Bryce reached the 
landing. He found a negro asleep on a pile of corn sacks, 
aroused him and asked him when a boat was likely to 
pass down the river. The negro looked up, saw that his 
questioner was meanly dressed and resented the disturb- 
ance. (Human nature is stronger in no man than it is in 
the negro. He is fond of smart sayings but they are 
brighter when uttered by aman of wealth. He may 
smile upon his own rags but he looks with contempt upon 
the rags of a white man. ) lA 

“T want to know what time a boat going down the 
river is expected to land here,’’ said Bryce. 

The negro told him that a boat would land there when- 
ever it got ready. Bryce called him an impudent scoun- 
drel and the negro got up. Hesaid that such a charge 
would snatch him out of a feather bed even at the drowsi- 
est time of morning and that if Bryce did not apologize 
he would wallow him. Just then a white man came up 
and asked to be enlightened as to the cause of the trouble. 
Bryce told him, with several interruptions from the negro, 
and the white man replied: ‘“That’s nothing to fight 

207 


208 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


about, but you oughtn’t come around here this time of 
merning waking people up. We have to work; we 
haven’t time to go tramping through the country.”’ 

‘‘T want work,’’ Bryce rejoined, ‘‘ and that’s the reason 
Iam here. I want to work my way to Nashville and I 
should like to know when you expect the first boat.’’ 

The man said that a boat would be along about noon 
to take on a load of corn. Bryce asked if there were any 
way by which he might earn something to eat, and the 
man, pointing to a shanty not far away, answered: ‘‘Go 
over there, split some wood, make a fire, and bring: a 
bucket of water.’’ 

While he was splitting the wood the negro came up to 
superintend the work. He told Bryce he was not split- 
ting the wood small enough, and commanded him to goto 
a spring quite a distance up the river, said that the water 
there was better ; and by way of insult he added: ‘* An’ 
we’n you git through wid all dat you mout take my ole 
shoes an’ gib ’em er lick er two wid de blackin’ bresh, 
’caze I sorter wants ter shine ‘mong de ladies ter mor’.”’ 

‘‘T hope some time to meet you when the circumstances 
may be different,” Bryce replied. 

‘* Yes, sah, we’n you’se in de penetenchy, an’ I is one 
o’ de bosses 0’ de job. Is dat it? Oh, you kain’ tell 
whut gwine happen. You kin’ ’spect most anything fum 
deze yere white tramps. Come, hurry up dar.”’ 





*60z aseq «Jesu JN0q, ssyo ,UryyNs AWIUITY ,, 








THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 209 


‘““You infamous scoundrel! If I were not afraid of 
having to stay here to explain I would knock you down 
with this axe.”’ 

‘Wid my own axe at dat! I declar’, de white tramps 
is a gittin so frisky deze days dat it takes er peart pusson 
ter keep up wid ’em. Hurry up dar.”’ 

‘* Vou black spawn of the devil!” 

‘‘Huh, dat’s fine; say dat er gir. I kin use dat er gin 
deze niggers roun’ yere, an’ da’ll think I’se flyin’. Gimmy 
suthin’ else ’bout myse’f.”’ 

After breakfast Bryce lay upon the corn sacks, and had 
dozed off to sleep when the negro aroused him. ‘‘ De 
boss say git up fum dar, an’ go an’ fetch er nuder bucket 
o’ water. ‘Tain’ no hour o’ de day fur er pusson ter come 
stretchin’ hisse’f roun’ yere. W’y, yander come de May 
Ann now. Huh, dat lady is er head o’ time. Go on an’ 
fetch dat water, ur I’ll tell de cap’n not ter let you git on 
boa’d.”’ 

The little craft had landed by the time Bryce returned 
from the spring. It was the boat that had set him ashore 
at Campbell’s Bend, and he was afraid that the captain 
might recognize him, but he did not. Bryce asked him if 
he might work his way to Nashville, and he replied: ‘‘@rab 
a hold there and help load that corn.”’ 

Down the river he went, and he stood near the jack- 
staff, and the deck hands were singing the same song 

14 


210 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


they had sung when he went up the stream. He was 
still a long distance from home, but he felt that he was 
safe. He wondered whether the brethren were searching 
for him, but he knew that after their fury had spent 
itself they would be cautious lest they might bring down 
upon their creed an inquiry too strong and searching. 
But would he be safe in Nashville? Might not their 
search gradually extend to that city? They knew not 
his name, knew not what business he had followed ; they 
knew him not except as the husband of the Wives. He 
had told them that he had come from England. ‘Then 
let them search for him in England. If Alma had only 
consented to go with him. By this time they could have 
been safe, happy in some hidden place. She was a fool 
to stay there among those bigots. Yes, he had frightened 
her with his suddenness. He ought to have spent days, 
weeks, months, if needs be, in converting her to a new 
faith: the faith of absolute love for him. Now that his 
fear was less intense, he could see her face, could hear 
her laughter in the rippling of the water at the bow of the 
boat. 

They landed to take on more corn, and up the bank 
Bry¢e was forgetfully walking when the mate struck him 
with a clod: ‘‘ Hurry up there, slouch! Hurry up there, 
snail! Where did we pick up such a thing us you, any- 
way? Ill leave you ashore the first thing you know.”’ 


a eS i ST 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. Ot: 


Bryce staggered under the heavy sacks. ‘‘ Hurry up 
there, slouch!”’ 

‘Don’t you see, sir, that I am hurrying as fast as 
Becanr?* 

“Don’t talk back to me; T1l knock you into the river. 
Hurry up there, slouch!”’ 

The sun went down, the deck hands sang their evening 
song. The air wascool. Bryce lay down near the fur- 
nace aid dropped off to sleep. A kick aroused him. 
‘“Wood up here! Come, come! You are the laziest 
devil I ever saw. Knock you into the river the first thing 
you know!’’ 

Again he lay down near the furnace when the boat 
swung round into the current, and this time he was per- 
mitted to sleep until daylight. He sat upon a box, to eat 
out of a tin pan his scrappy breakfast, and a negro, filthy 
of body and foul of mouth, sat beside him. That mud- 
executive, the mate, came along and told them to hurry 
up, that they were going to land a short distance below 
to take on a shipment of tobacco. ‘‘ And mark me,’’ he 


c¢ 


said to Bryce, if you don’t do better than you have been 
doing, I'll make you stay ashore.’’ 
‘*My dear sir, I have done the very best I could.” 
‘*Don’t you dear sir me; I’ll knock you heels over head 
into the river.” 


Bryce looked at the fellow and it flashed upon his mind 


DAP THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


that he remembered him. Years before, just after having 
been admitted to the bar, the court appointed him to 
defend that fellow against a charge of manslaughter. 
Yes, and now he recalled the particulars of the case. The 
fellow was a deck hand and 







had killed a companion. And 
it was his brutality that had 
no doubt placed him in line for 
oe 

long toward 
noon the boat 
landed ata small 







AN b, X 4 town ‘and a 

UY DAN NN WY / is Yy 4 i 

aE a i ME crowd of people, 
\\4 \ / 





Y MB 
f ae 





evidently the so- 
cietyof the place, 
came down to 
the wharf to bid 
a distinguished 





, 2 





looking man 


adieu. : Bryce 


eeeermeeeczsses——— > 


. ae ~ 


recognized him 
as he came upon the gang plank; he was a Methodist 
bishop, hearty with many a “ God bless you,” stout with 
many a feast, resonant of voice, conscious of the weakness 
of others and of the strength of himself. A song arose as 











THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. _ 213 


the boat was shoved off, handkerchiefs fluttered, the 
bishop waved a benediction. The air above was too cut- 
ting, the air below was just right, the eminent passenger 
said, and for himself and his companion—a young man— 
chairs were brought forward and placed near the bow. 
Bryce hung about and heard the bishop and the young 
man talk of the scenery, of the bracing air which God | 
had sent to the bishop, of the delightful day which God 
had given to the bishop, of the captain whom God had 
inspired to take the bishop free of charge. It was a self- 
importance born of the adoration of women, but with it 
there was kindliness instead of bigotry. The old gentle- 
man had seen so little of trouble that he was still in love 
with the world which God had given him. ‘To him the 
struggle for bread was a vague abstract; for him bread 
was baked in many a house and affectionate and rever- 
ential voices urged him to eat. 

‘“My son,” the bishop said to his companion, ‘‘ kind- 
ness rules this life. A simple kindness of heart is a wis- 
dom, while viciousness, though it may be possessed by a 
philosopher, is a stupid ignorance. In my minda satirist 
is the most despicable creature that lives. And history 
teaches us that he dies abjectedly. Addison, holding 
until the last his gracious faculties, died a beautiful death; 
Dean Swift rotted at the top. That part of a man which 
tantalizes his fellow man, is soonest to decay. The sting 


214 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


of a wasp dies last, but the sting of a man dies first and 
leaves him helpless, pitiable. And I charge you to 
remember these things for some day you may bea bishop.” 

The young man shook his head. ‘‘ Not while Hartley — 
is alive,’’ he replied. 

‘“You speak wisely, my son, for Hartley is beceming 
a power in this land, and deservedly so. He holds up an 
example of what a man may do by study and the culti- 
vation of the virtue of unselfishness.” 

‘‘ Bishop, are you acquainted with Howard Bryce, the 
lawyer whom Hartley talks so much about?” 

‘‘T knew his father when he was state senator, and I 
have held Howard on my knee, but I cannot say that I 
know him now; years have passed since I have been 
thrown with him. Our roads diverged. Hewas wont to 
speak a sharp evil of his fellow man, I have been told.” 

‘Ves, I have heard so. He is traveling in Europe — 
now, I believe. Hartley says that he is one of the bright- 
est and yet one of the most peculiar men he has ever 
known.”’ 

‘‘T dare say,’’ the old gentleman replied, ‘‘ that at one 
time he was material for a bishop, that is, had he been 
properly directed. ‘The air is rather chilly here. Suppose 
we go inside.” . 

‘“What are you standing about here for?’’ the mate 
shouted at Bryce. ‘‘Get a move on you! ‘There is 


2 re 
’ Sosy gt 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 21d 


always something to doon board a boat. You'll lose your 
job as soon as we get to town, I'll tell you that. Don’t 
stand there looking at me! Hand me that stick of wood, 
Steve; I’ll knock him overboard. You’d better move on!” 

The sun was down, the stars were out; and Bryce saw 
the lights of the city. Behind a wall of corn he stood, 
hiding from the mate. The deck hands were singing. 
And this was the end of his wild and lustful adventure. 
But was it the end? He might escape the wrath of old 
man Boyle, but could he escape the lash of conscience? 


Yes, he could; hecould with humility sweep out Hartley's 


church, humble himself at the mourner’s bench. But 
would not that be a trick, and did not conscience under- 
stand all trickery? He must shape some other course; — 
but could he not in all sincerity beg of his conscience to 
forgive him? And suppose it refused? He could kill his 
conscience. But this he had already striven to do and had 
failed. Was he not, however, more afraid of physical 
punishment than of conscience-torture ? 

They were nearing the wharf; the song of the deck 


‘hands was hushed; they were ready to throw out the 


plank. The mate came along andsworeat them. ‘‘Grab 
hold there!’ he shouted at Bryce, and Bryce mused: 
‘Why should he hate me? It must be the unconscious 
resentment of ingratitude, and if he were to learn the true 
cause of his brutality toward me, he would find that it 


216 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


rests upon the fact that I have done him a service. The 
fact that he does not remember me makes no difference; 
the hatred is there though he may be ignorant of the 
cause.’’ 

When the boat landed Bryce shouldered a sack of corn, 
staggered up the levee with it, dropped it and ran away. 
The mate swore after him, but no attempt was made to 
bring him back.. He dodged behind a shanty, the home 
of the old sailor who had picked the pictures on his arms. 
He was afraid that some acquaintance might recognize 
him. He remembered that hanging in his office closet 
was a hunting suit, and dressed in it he could safely go to 
his room. His course now lay through alleys and across 
vacant places. His office was in one of the principal 
streets, and an alley ran back of it. He had no key, and 
how was he to let himself in? He wished that the hour 
was later; his efforts to force an entrance might attract 
the police. Had he been a robber he might not have 
feared this, but he imagined that fate was seeking. to 
expose him, and might not a policeman well serve as an 
agent of perverse fate? He stole down an alley, and 
stood under his own window. He wondered whether he had 
fastened the catch, and hetried the sash. Yes, he had; 
the sash could not be raised. He stole to the mouth of 
the alley and peeped up and down the street. No police- 
man was in sight. He returned to the window and, 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 217 


with a stone, broke a pane of glass, quickly thrust his 
arm through, slipped the catch, raised the sash, and 
stepped inside. He fumbled about for a match; the tin 
safe was empty. He felt over the green table, opened the 
drawers ; he turned toward the closet. He stepped upon 
amatch. It snapped, blazed, and he grabbed at it, but 
the flame died. In the closet he found an old waistcoat, 
and in one of the pockets was a match. He lighted 
the gas. Fortunate that they had not shut it off. He put 
on the hunting suit and sat down to rest. There was 
everything undisturbed: his books covered with dust, his 
papers just as had left them. He heard a church bell. 
He knew the tone —the largest church in town; Hart- 
ley’s church. His room was in a large building not far 
away, and he was acquainted with many of the tenants, 
among them a gossipping music teacher, but what differ- 
ence could it nfake now if she should meet him in the hall- 
way? ‘To-morrow he must begin the answering of ques- 
tions about his travels in Europe. The music teacher 
would want to know all about Italy; Hartley would 
demand an account of his visit to Westminster Abbey, 
and reporters might interview him upon the prospect of a 
war on the continent. In the street he escaped recogni- 
tion; he climbed the stairs, walked down the hall. A 
door opened; the music teacher came out. ‘‘ Well, I 
declare, if this ain’t Mr. Bryce. Why, how do you do? 


218 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


I am so glad to see you. And you have been gone away 
so long, haven’t you? And I understand that you didn’t 
write toa single soul. It was awfully mean of you not 
to let us know how you were enjoying yourself. Do 
come in. Mommer is here and would like so much to 
hear about your trip. Did you go to the Holy Land? 


Oh, you must tell mommer all about that. And you must 


have stood on the Mount of Olives. And did you see any 
olives? Please do comein. Well, won’t you take break- 
fast with us in the morning? Why, you know mommier. 
Don’t you remember how badly she had rheumatism ? 
She is nearly well; and what do you think of that? Do 
you remember my bird? What do you think, a cat killed 
it. I just had to sit down andcry. Oh, how you have 
lost flesh. But I suppose that travel is awfully wearing.”’ 

At last he was in his room, with his door locked against 
the prattle of that woman. How different¢rom the bright 
talk of Alma, of Rachel, of either of the Wives. 

Bryce lighted his long German pipe and stretched him- 
self upon the sofa. There were the portraits of his mother 
and his sister looking down upon him. He got up and 
turned out the light, but in the darkness came pictures 
that the light did not reveal. Again he lighted the gas. 
He dozed off to sleep. A tap on the door aroused him. 
He opened the door and Hartley stood there. He grabbed 
Bryce by the shoulders and shook him. ‘‘Oh, my dear 


ie - 
= igh 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 219 


boy,’’ he cried, ‘‘ you can’t sneak home without my find- 
ing it out. There are music teachers in this neighborhood 
you know. But what is the matter with you, Howard? 
You don’t look well. Here, let us sit down.” 

Bryce sat upon the sofa and motioned Hartley to- 
take a rocking chair. ‘‘ My dear Hartley I don’t look 
well for the reason that I have on this suit of clothes. 
Got here all tired out and put it on at the prompting of a 
senseless whim, you know. How are you getting along? 
Tell me about yourself; tell me everything. Who is 
dead? Who is going to die, and worse, who is married?”’ 

Hartley rocked himself, laughing. ‘‘ You come back 
the same old Howard. I don’t remember how many 
people have died since you left, I don’t know how many 
are likely to die, but I know that I am married, and that 
instead of being worse than death, my wife is the blessing 
of my life. -But let us not enter into a discussion. ‘Tell 
me about your trip. No, not now, you are too tired for 
that. Wewill get down to it after awhile. I simply ran 
in to see you, to assure myself that you were well. 
Church was just out when I met the music teacher and she 
tolel me that you had returned.” 

‘‘But don’t go, Hartley. Please sit down; I don’t 
want you to go. I find rest in your mere presence, an 
undeserved consolation in your voice. Don’t leave 


mesyet.’* 


aa Sl - . 


220 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. © 


‘““My dear Howard, something is troubling you. 
What is it?”’ 

‘‘No, nothing is troubling me. I had fever in Italy 
and I am not well.’’ 

But it wasn’t a brain fever, was it, Howard?” 

‘“What the devil—excuse me, my dear Hartley, but 
what put that into your head? No, it was just a malaria] 
fever, and it has left we weak and irritable, but when I am 
strong again I am going to make an effort to be some- 
body. I shall read no more idle books; I am going to 
study. From where you sit can you see that my hair is 
turning gray?’’ 

‘“No, Howard. Is it turning gray?”’ 

‘Yes, come closer.” 

The preacher moved his chair nearer the sofa. ‘‘ Oh, 
I can see a few gray hairs, but that makes no difference. 
Gray hair is no sign of weakness. Our bishop has white 
hair and he is almost as strong as a lion.”’ 

‘* Yes, I came down on the boat with him—I mean that 
I was on a steamboat excursion with him some time ago, 
and I noticed then that his hair was white. Then you 
don’t think that gray hairs on my head isa sign that I 
am going as Swift did, rotting at the top?” 

“My dear boy, you are not well yet and I think you 
need a doctor.”’ . 

‘“No, all I need is a little rest. But I can’t afford to 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 291 


rest long. I haveno money and I have noincome. I am 
tottering here on the experimental age of the present. 
Why should the past be so clear and the future so dark? 
Gibbon turned and the past was under his glance. He 
could look back almost into the sunrise of Roman civili- 
zation, but looking forward, he could not see as far as his 
eye lashes.” He was silent, staring with expressionless 
eye at the nothing in the air, and after a time he added: 
““T owe Bentley a small debt and Iam going to sella part 
‘of my library to raise money enough to pay him.”’ 

**He won’t demand that, Howard.” 

‘*But honor demands it, Hartley. Yes, Iam going to 
rest and then I shall strive to make of myself what you 
desire to see me. ” 

‘“You ought to marry some good woman, Howard.’’ 

‘No, don’t talk about marriage. My love is dead—I 
mean that I don’t think I could love any one. I know all 
about beauty, innocence, tenderness; I know as much 
about women as anybody, and I would rather be in hell 
than to marry a woman I could not love aside from—I 
was going to say passion, but I'll let that pass. Ican 
argue that marriage is a stupendous failure or that it isa 
quiet blessing.’’ 

‘* Howard, to hear you talk one might take you to be 
an old man.”’ 

‘* Yes, and having my experience one might think that 


202, THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


Methuselah at the time of his death was a youngster. 


And when I look at your fresh, blonde appearance, I can 
but think that you are a child, that I ought: to take you 
by the hand and lead you along, and yet in truth Iam 


eee 


\ 


| | ili ie at fi 
Si a 


Sse 
_—— 


























i 


UY z y 4 ae G i y £ " yi) j 
er Nn 
GZ, ; Hp i) 

a gal i) 
‘ 9 Yy 4 | / } 
Ui 





* x. 


: i 
Iv WW yc 


HW 


not even eee to follow you. ButIam going to fol- 
low you.’ ; : 

The preacher, slowly rocking himself, smiled upon. his 
friend and Bryce, looking at him, saw the light of an 
unselfish heart. ‘‘ Howard, gratitude, and not egotism, 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. aba 


prompts me to say that I hopeso. But you will not be 
following me, but walking with me—for I shall walk 
but slowly — you will pass me. I once heard a man say 
that he was so happy that he was afraid that some evil 
might come upon him. And I thought that he must 
have done some evil, that he felt that his happiness was 
stolen, that sooner or later it would be demanded of him. 
But don’t you want to go to bed? You must be tired.”’ 

“No, don’t go away. Move your chair just a little 
closer. That’s it.’”’ He stretched himself upon the sofa, 
took Hartley’s hand and held it. He lay there with his 
eyes closed and, now that the light of his countenance 
was gone, the preacher marveled at the haggardness of 
his face. What could be the cause of his trouble? Why 
had he gone to Europe, and why should he return so 
wretched of body, so disturbed in mind? He thought of 
the time, years ago, when Bryce had helped him, when 
his nimble wit at play had thrown light upon the 
darkness of a dead tongue. Then he had felt proud of 
him, now he could but look upon him with pity. 

Bryce fell asleep, still holding the preacher’s hand. His 
grasp was feverish, and when Hartley gently released 
himself, the sleeping man’s fingers nervously clutched at 
him: He spread a rug over him and softly he tip-toed 
to the door. He looked back, gazed a moment, sadly 
shook his head, stepped out, and closed the door. 


ie” en eos th Sage, Cut al 
pete Sap he * 


CHAPTER XVIFE 


There passed many a weary day and threatening night; ~ 
a month dragged by and still Bryce was not able to leave 
his room. ‘The leading physician of the city had been in 
constant attendance upon him and had held consultations 
with other doctors ; and the patient’s condition had been 
pronounced hopeless ; once they had thought that he was 
dead. In his delriuim he lived through an age of anguish, 
raved until it was feared he would die in a convulsion. 
At night, people passing along the street heard his fright- 
ening cries. _When reason returned, feebly feeling 
its way back to him, he recognized Hartley, and 
sniffed the scent of flowers that had been placed on a table 
near him. And instantly he thought of something that 
old man Boyle had said: ‘‘The devil deadens our senses 
with a sweet perfume that he may better steal the soul.”’ 
A fear that in his delerium he might have raved over 
Bolga seized upon him and shook him until again he was 
almost unconscious, but when he asked a question, Hart- 
ley held up his head and said: ‘‘ Not a word, my dear 
boy. You are all right now but you must nottalk. Just 
be patient a little longer.”’ 
224 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 225 


Slowly he regained his strength, but the days were so 
weary and the nights were almost endless; but to learn 
that his wild words had meant nothing was a great relief 
to him. One day when he was able to walk about the 
room, Hartley brought the bishop to see him. ‘‘ Do you 
think, sir, that I may rot at the top?”’ Bryce asked be- 
fore he knew what he was saying. ‘The bishop looked 
in astonishment at him. 

‘““Why, my dear young man, what put that idea into 
your head ?’’ 

**T don’t know, sir, unless it was that I dreamed of 
you saying that Swift rotted at the top.” 

“‘It is not a very elegant expression,’’ the bishop re- 


| plied, laughing, ‘‘but I have said so. Strange, though, 


that you should have dreamed it. But there is no ac- 
counting for our thoughts at waking hours, then why 
should we marvel at the vagaries of a dream? Do you 
remember sitting on my knee when you were a boy?” 

*“Yes ; you wore a large silver watch that shut with a 
loud snap, and I remember ,hearing you say, ‘what can 
aman give in exchange for his soul?’ and I wondered 
if men were going about trying to exchange something 
for their souls.’’ 

‘Ves, you do recall me. Your sister was older than 
you. lJIremember her ; no one could forget her face. But 
there, I am sorry I spoke of her. Well, you are getting 


TS OE 


226 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


along nicely, Brother Hartley tells me. Yes, and it will 
not be long until you will be about again. And when 
you are yourself, when you can reason and weigh evi- 
dence, why not think about our church? Pardon me, 
but you have lacked proper direction, and nothing so 
directs a man as the true church of the living God.”’ 

Bryce got out of his rocking chair and walked slowly up 
and down the room. ‘‘ Bishop, you have faith. Where 
did you get it?”’ 

‘* It was given to me.” 

‘‘ Ah, but why hasn’t it been given also to me?”’ 

‘“My son, God has giver you the evidence and you 
accept it not.”’ 

‘‘No, that is what I beg for; I want evidence, but there 
is, none.” 

‘¢ Where is the bible?” 

‘‘Oh, that’s what they all say. Your faith rests upon 
the bible; what does the bible rest upon? Faith is well 
enough, but simple faith is the reverse of reason; faith 
bats its eyes like an owl in the,glare of alight. But then, 
no good can come from such an argument. I will say 
this to you, however: I will make an effort to come into 
your church. I should like to be a useful man, and if I 
am a free agent, why can I not become one? But here is 
something I can’t understand: Within a man thereis a 
constant see-sawing of good and bad intentions. Why 


~ 3 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. O07 


should that be? Ifthe bad within me is stronger than the 
good, can I help it? If the good is unable to overthrow 
the bad, is it my fault?’’ 

“‘T could preach a long sermon on the text you give 
me,’’ said the bishop, ‘‘ but I fear that it would be use- 
less. You have given us your word that you are going 
to try to come into our church. - That is all we ask of 
you; we will pray for the rest. But come, we have 
brought a carriage and are going to take you driving.”’ 

Through Bryce’s mind there ran aconstant surmise; day 
and night, awakeor sleeping, he wondered whether the men 
of Bolga were searching for him. And what would they 
do if they should find him? Upon the ground of fatalism 
he rested his defense. What he had done, had to be done. 
This was well enough, but what should be the end? Oute 
day he went to the steamboat landing, when the May 
Ann had come down, and asked the captain if he had 
lately seen any of those peculiar people, the Bolgaites. 
The captain answered that he had occasionally seen some 
of those cranks but that he had paid no attention to them. 


Bryce asked him if any of them had ever taken passage 


on his boat, and he said that they had not. Bryce saw 
the mate but the fellow did not recognize him; it was 
evident that he, like the majority of the human family, 
estimated a man by his garb rather than by his face, that 
to change a man’s clothes was to make a stranger of him. 





228 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


A political campaign opened with the coming of spring. 
Bryce had regained his strength, and was resolved to take 
the ‘‘stump’’ for his party. He made aspeech at a bar- 
becue, and so completely did he catch the crowd that 
when the state convention met he was selected as a presi- 
dential elector. He traveled about, making speeches, but 
went not into the mountain district. He was termed an 
eagle orator, the man with a silver tongue. With one 
bound he had sprung past the plodders and was leaving 
them far behind., He had known that he could distance 
them, and had simply waited for the time to come. Hart- 
ley was delighted. One day he was on a train with Bryce, 
going toward a town in the lowlands of the state. 
‘Howard, you are now making the people see your 
splendid talents. You will be governor after a while ; 
you will be sent to congress, to the senate. Perhaps after 
all you were wise when you were resolved to wait. For 
so young a man to shove himself forward would not have 
looked right. But I was so eager to see you advance. I 
was talking to Bentley yesterday, and he said that you 
had made one of the brightest and most telling speeches 
he had ever heard. ‘The bishop heard you day before 
yesterday, and he told me that you were unquestionably 
a great man; that you would make a broad mark in poli- 
tics, but that you should be in the church preaching the 


gospel.”’ 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 229 


‘“The bishop is a big man,’’ Bryce replied, ‘‘ but he is 
not big enough to get away from his shop. I heard him 
preach not long ago, and he strove to reason with his 
people. That is a mistake. With reason you catch a 
reasoner here and there, but the people are caught by 
entertainment, by word-flights, by jolts, by unexpected 
utterances. Reason with the average man and you lead 
him to surmise what you are going to say, and then he 
loses respect for your intelligence. But pour out words 
upon him, dazzle him with pictures, and he thinks that 
he sees an inspiration. ” | 

Bryce had no money when the campaign closed, but 
clientscameto him. His flatterers came back, and women 
smiled upon him. One day the bishop visited him at his 
office. He called him Howard. ‘‘I have seen you in 
church a number of times,’’ said he, ‘‘and I have won- 
dered if you were earnestly trying to get into the fold, 
striving to make up your mind. Is it true?” 

‘‘T have thought something about it, but my mind is 
not made up.” ‘The bishop moved in his chair as though 
he were impatient. ‘‘Itis your fault,’ he said. ‘‘I saw 
you in the congregation, and I reasoned especially for 
you ; I presented truths which you cannot deny ; and now 
that you have made your influence so deeply felt, more 
than ever is it your duty to become one of us, to lead 
others by your example. You may not think that you 


IS) THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


are to be held accountable for the frailties of other 
people, but you are. You are conscious of your strength, 
and yet you refuse to wield it. Andon the day of judg- 
ment that neglect will be looked upon as a crime.” 

‘“Do you mean to tell me that I shall be punished 
simply because I cannot become a hypocrite? I cannot 
join your church because I cannot accept your doctrine. 
And you may say that I ought to accept it. But suppose 
I have no faith, what then? Bishop, there are in this 
world hundreds of religions that are just as plausible as 
yours, and their devotees wonder why all men do not ac- 
cept them. You believe in a literal hell; I cannot. But 
I will admit that there have been times when I believed 
in a personal devil, but I was weak and frightened.” 

‘‘ And may you not be weak and frightened when your 
time comes to die?”’ 

‘‘Ves, that’s true,” Bryce admitted, and nervously he 
fumbled a pen that lay on the table. Why could he not 
be permitted to forget? He wondered if there might not 
be a future punishment. Strength told him no, but weak- 
ness told him yes. He wished that Hartley and the bishop 
would leave him alone. It flashed upon him that he was 
not safe, that old man Boyle might at any moment step 
into his office and assassinate him. ‘The bishop noticed the 
effect that his words had taken and he repeated them. 
‘When do we need the most moral strength? At the 


Sacer at 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. vod 


time when death shall come. ‘To this question there 
may be an uncertain side, but there is another side and 
it is absolutely safe.’’ 

‘And you would have me join your church to escape 
punishment. That would be cowardice, a palpable trick.” 

‘Well,’ said the bishop getting up to go, ‘I see that 
you are not quite ready yet. But do the best you can 
and I will pray for you.”’ 

Yes, he was in danger; he was living too close to 
Bolga. But he had not money enough to.go far, and no 
matter whither he should go it would take him along time 
toestablish a practice. But why not marry a fortune and 
then go away? He shuddered at this but he accepted 
the suggestion. He knew a widow, older than himself, 
wrinkled indeed, but she had money. She would marry 
him for his name, for the prospect of becoming the wife of 
a governor. 

He went out when the bishop was gone, and a strange 
looking man stared at himinthestreet. The man passed 
quickly on, but Bryce felt cold, and he thought of the 
fancied chill, running up and down the creek at the Witch 
Hole. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


Three days passed and again the strange-looking man 
stared at Bryce in the street. This time he halted longer, 
and turned and looked back after he had passed on. 
Bryce cautiously followed him, kept him in view until he 
disappeared through the entrance to a wagon yard. It 
was evening and he walked about the neighborhood until 
dark, and then he went to the manager of the wagon 
yard, described the man and requested information con- 
cerning him. The manager, a blunt fellow, said that he 
knew nothing about him, and cared less so long as he 
paid his bills. ‘‘ Here he comes now and can speak for 
himself,’’ he added. Bryce turned to leave, but the man 
called after him. ‘‘ Do you want me?” he asked. 

‘“‘T don’t know,” Bryce answered, halting, ‘‘ But per- 
haps you can give me the information I want,’’ he added, 
slowly approaching the man. ‘‘Some one has told me 
that you are from the iron lands near Birmingham. I 
have lost sight of a client of mine, and have heard that 
he went down into that part of the country. His name is 
Featherstone.” 

‘‘T never was in that part of the country, sir; I live 

232 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 233 


down the river. This is Mr. Bryce, ain’t it? I heard you 
speak not long ago, and I lowed to myself that you were 
the man when I saw you a time or two in the street.” 

It was simply a frightening shadow and was gone. But 
how long was this dread to last? Must he continue to 
shy like a horse, constantly look for something to scare 
him? ‘The fault lay with his nerves; he was smoking too 
much; he would give up tobacco. A week passed, his 
nerves were worse; again he had been frightened. He 
went to his room and lighted hisGerman pipe. ‘Tobacco, 
beneficent plant, soothed his mind and sent off his 
thoughts in an easy flow. He had been foolish. He was 
in no danger. ‘Those bigots might rave among them- 
selves, but they were afraid of the light of a city. They 
dared not molest hit: to murder him would bring ruin- 
upon them; an appeal to the law would expose their creed. 
Yes, he was safe; he would not marry that wrinkled 
woman. But would not oid Boyle hire a wretch to stab 
him? His pipe was out and his fears had returned. He 
filled it and lighted it, but the fears remained. 

During the day when he was in court, powerful before 
a jury, he stood in strong defiance, bu. alone in his office 
or in his room, he was a coward. One evening while he 
was in a nervous meditation, he heard Hartley’s foot-steps 
in the hall. He unlocked the door and cried, ‘‘ Come in; 
you don’t know how glad I am to see you. Take that arm 


234 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


chair. How are you, anyway? What, wearing gloves? 
Is that carrying out the doctrine of humility?” 

Hartley laughed, ‘‘It is my wife’s whim,” he replied. 
‘‘She says that as Iam the pastor of a fashionable con- 
gregation, to dress becomingly is one of my duties. And 
I agree with her; but mark me, if I find that gloves give 
offence to my fellow man, I will take them off and cast 
them from me. Howard, you are making a great name.”’ 

‘“Welk, I am not sliding backward, at any rate. By 
the way, you have often advised me to marry some good 
woman. Well, that is exactly what I am going to do.’’ 

‘‘Good! Now you are in the right direction. May I 
ask the name of the lady?” 

‘The Widow Buckney.’’ 

‘‘ What! You don’t mean it?” 

‘“Yes, I do; we are engaged.’’ 

‘‘ Why, she is much older than you.’ 

‘« That’s true.” 

‘* But do you love her?’’ 

‘‘QOh, that’s another question. But to be frank, I do 
not love her. She is wrinkled, and a man may venerate 
a wrinkle but he can’t love it. However, there is one 
charm about her: she has money.’’ 

‘Howard, you grieve me. Why should you marry her 
for money when you will soon have plenty of your own? 
Don’t marry her. You cannot afford it.” 


i. © 


A Rares 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 235 


‘“But, my dear fellow, I have given her my word and 
there stands honor, commanding me. I carp upon points 
of honor. I suppose that I am the most honorable wretch 
that ever lived. Yes, sir, I shall take that withered lady 
to my heart and softly whisper, ‘my own, you are very 
dear tome. Give me your money.’ ”’ 

The preacher took off his gloves and threw them into 
the grate. ‘‘ What’s that for?” Bryce asked. 

‘They have given me offence by causing you to be 
flippant with me. You saw in them an evidence of world- 
liness, and you thought to be more worldly than I. 
Howard, I don’t know what to say. I thought that I was 
getting at a complete understanding of you, but you have 
thrown me farther off than ever. Do you know that 
woman well? Have you heard that her character is not 
good?”’ 

_ “Why should I have heard such a thing, Hartley? I 
don’t belong to the church. So her character is not good. 
But has any aspersion been cast upon her money? I care 
nothing for her name in society. In strictest confidence, 
let me tell you something. I am going to marry her and 
leave here. I am going, well, say to Australia. And she 
is simply the ship that is to take me over.”’ 

‘‘ Howard, what in the world could have prompted such 
a move?”’ 

‘‘ Nothing in the world, but something out of it,’’ 


236 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


For along time they sat in silence. The preacher arose 
to go. ‘‘I must bid you good-bye,’’ he said. 


‘Going out of town. Hartley?’’ 


‘“No, but I must 
bid you good-bye, for 
when I meet you 
again I shall not 
know you. Listen to 
me. I have been de- 
voted to you. When 
others have spoken 
against you, I have 
stood in your defense. 
There was something 
about you that I could 
not understand, but I i 
believed that your 
heart was right. But 
now I know that your 
heart is black. You 
are a scoundrel.” 








Bryce sprang to his 
feet. ‘‘ By God, you shan’t talk to me this way!’ 

‘‘ Be quiet!” the preacher commanded with a motion of 
his hand. ‘‘I amin your own house, but I stand here 
to tell you the truth. You area scoundrel!”’ 





PA ee 
Ss eam 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 237 


Bryce pointed toward the door. The preacher bowed 
and withdrew. Bryce ran to the door. ‘‘ Come back, 
Hartley !” ‘he cried. ‘‘Yes, I am a scoundrel. Come 
back and I will tell you why.’’ 

The preacher did not look around, and slowly he walked 
down the stairs. 

Bryce sat down to think. He lighted his pipe, but it 
went out. ‘The loss of that man’s friendship wrung him. 
But he must not lose it. He would write to him, beg for 
forgiveness. He grabbed up a pen and covered sheet 
after sheet, but tore them to pieces. Evening came ; the 
church bells rang for prayer meeting. He listened to the 
bell of Hartley’s church. ‘‘Scoun-scoundrel !’’ it said; 
“scoun-scoundrel !”’ 

He would go to prayer meeting. He went, and took a 
seat far in front, among the old men and old women who 
had come to beg of God to bless their fading lives. 
Hartley looked not at Bryce, and when the services were 
ended he walked past him without speaking. Bryce 
returned home angry, resentful. He would send Hartley 
a letter to sting him as with a thousand nettles. ‘‘ Most 
righteous one,’’ he began, ‘‘ when were you appointed to 
bring men to judgment? I thought that you were a 
streng and unselfish man, but you have shown me that 
you have the petulance of a vanity-stricken clown, and 
the weakness of a fool. You called me a scoundrel and I 


238 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


begged of you to forgive me, to forgive me for being the 
scoundrel that you had called me. You heeded me not. 
I went to your church to pray with you, and you treated 
me with contempt. And yet you knelt there and prayed 
to Him who died that men might be forgiven. I may be 
a scoundrel, but Iam nota bigot.’’ He tore the paper 
to pieces. ‘‘It would be foolish to send it to him,’’ he 
said. ‘‘Why should I care? I can get along without 
his friendship. He has never benefited me. ‘There was 
simply a sentiment between us, and a puff of wind has 
blown it away.”’ 

At early morning he went to his office and was writing 
when some one spoke his name. He looked up ; Hartley 
stood in the door. ‘‘ Howard, may I come in?” 

‘Yes, sit down.” 

‘*Not until you say that you forgive me.’’ 

‘You have committed no offence and are in no need of 
forgiveness. You were there to tell truth and you told it.” 

‘* Howard, don’t bring back my thoughtless words and 
sting me with them.’’ 

He sat down and a silence in which there was embar- 
rassment fell between them. ‘‘Last night I could not 
sleep for thinking of you,’’ the preacher said. ‘‘I could 
see your sad face appealing to me and I was wretched. 
I came down town and stood at your door, but i was 
afraid to knock lest in your just resentment you might 


HES WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 239 


turn upon me; and so I went home again, but I could 
not sleep.”’ 

With his old air of affection Bryce got up and put 
his hand on Hartley’s shoulder. aay My dear fellow, don’t 
think about it. I said enough to provoke you and I beg 
your pardon ; you must not beg mine.’’ 

** Howard, you have a noble heart.”’ 

Bryce smiled: ‘‘ There is but one noble trait about 
me’’ he said, ‘‘and that is my friendship for you.’’ 

“You must not talk that way,’’ the preacher replied, 
‘“‘you make me ashamed of myself. Now let me set myself 
aright. I have heard idle talk about that widow, but as 
to whether or not her character is bad I cannot say. It 
was contemptible of me to speak of her as I did.”’ 

‘“Don’t let it worry you, my dear boy; put it out of 
your mind. I will investigate her character and if it is 
not straight, I will not marry her. When I engaged 
myself to her it was of course with the implied under- 
standing that she was allright. I can’t afford to let 
her soil my name.” 

_**No, for yours is an honorable name, Howard.’’ And 
after a moment’s silence he added: ‘‘ Can you take din- 
ner with us to-morrow ?”’ | 

*‘T’m afraid not. I may be called out of town.” 

‘*T have a number of times asked you to my house and 


240 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


you have always declined. Is it because you don’t care 
to meet my wife?”’ 

‘“It might be—it is. She expects too much of me and 
I don’t wish to disappoint her.”’ 

‘“You are the most whimsical man in the world. It is 
true that she has heard a great deal of you, but I am not 
afraid of her being disappointed.’’ 

‘“Wait until I marry some good woman and then I 
shall come with my wife.’’ 

‘“All right, since you enforce your own conditions, but 
I wish you could be with us to-morrow. Well, I must 
get back home. I haven’t eaten breakfast yet.”’ 

‘‘And did you come off down here without your break- 
fast, and merely to ask me to forgive you? Had you been 
one of the virgins, you would have been one of the fool- 
ish. You might have known that I held no resentment 
against you.”’ 

Along toward noon a client, the representative of a 
railway, came in and paid Bryce a large fee, and when he 
had taken the check to a bank, he turned away, musing -; 
‘* Don’t think I can marry that widow. I don’t need her 


money and God knows I don’t want her. But suppose’ 


she sues me. I can tell her that I have found a bad flaw 
in her name and that if she goes to court it can but result 


_ badly for her. Everything is coming my way and I can’t 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 241 


afford to leave here; and why should I leave? The dan- 
ger is gone.” 

When he returned to the office he found a rich client 
waiting for him, and before evening another one came. 
His railway case was a good advertisement. 

On the following Sunday he went to Hartley’s church 
and dropped a thousand dollars into the contribution box. 
His generosity was discovered and was whispered about 
the congregation, for at no place does a gift win so quick 
a reputation as at a church. As he was going out, a 
woman in a faded gown blocked the way. A deacon 
frowned upon her and pleasantly smiled upon Bryce. 


16 


CHAPTER XIX. 


The summer was gone, the weather was growing cold. 
Many a day had passed since Bryce had received a scare. 
One day he talked with a man who had just passed 
through the village of Bolga. It wasa peculiar place, the 
man said. He could learn nothing with regard to the 
affairs of the people, but they appeared to be contented. 

Yes, they had forgotten. Bryce and were praying for the 
_ true Prophet to come. He would have liked to ask the 
man if he had seen the Wives, but caution restrained him. 

One evening he was busy in his office, preparing an 
important case, when Hartley appeared at the door. 
‘‘Come in; I am never too busy to see you. ‘There is 
your chair always waiting for you. Iam really glad you 
came, for I am tired of this thing.’’ 

‘* Howard, you told me yesterday that you were about 
ready to join my church, that you thought you had 
experienced a change of heart.’’ 

‘Yes, I told you that, and I am now ready.’’ 

‘“’'Thank God for those words. I have prayed earnestly 
for you, always believing that my prayer would be 
answered, and now it is answered.”’ 

242 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 243 


**Yes, Hartley, I think it is. I believe that I have 
experienced a change of heart. A peacefulness has come 
to me, and I know that this isa change. I used to fear 
that some evil were about to come upon me, but that fear 
is gone. I have hanging there in the closet an old vest 
that I want to burn in your presence. It is a relic of the 
days of my wickedness, and I want you to see me destroy 
it, but I must request you to ask no question concern- 


ano it.? 
He went to the closet, struck a match and looked in. 
‘‘That’s strange,’ he said. ‘‘ Now, I wonder what 


became of that thing, I wonder if that office boy could 
have taken it. I have had him but a short time and he 
already assumes to disobey me. ‘That’s a strange thing. 
I saw it here yesterday and was going to burn it then, 
but thought that I would wait until I could have you 
with me; wanted to make a sort of ceremony of it. Well,’’ 


he added, resuming his seat, ‘‘if that boy has taken it 


away I will make him bring it back. Hartley, you 
remember that widow?” 

‘Ves: are you going to marry her?’’ 

‘*No; she’s crooked. Oh, she was rather dramatic 
when I broke the engagement, but I put the case very 
plainly to her, gave her to understand that a fight in court 
would ruin her, and she was angry when I left her, but 
was wise enough to know that silence was her best course. 


244 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


But I am going to marry. Are you acquainted with 
Miss Laura Neil ?”’ 

‘Yes, and she is a charming 
girl.’’ 

““We are engaged. I don’t 
think that she is devoted to me, 
but we have found that we are 
companions and that is all I can 





ask. ‘There was atime when I 
should have insisted upon abso- 
lute love, but that time is forever 








dead. I once loved awoman, and 
how deeply I did not know until 





she was beyond my reach. She 
thought that she was my wife.” 
‘Thought so? Why, what do 
you thean?”’ 
‘‘ Hartley, if Miss Neil knew 
my life, she would die rather than 





marry me. Ihave turned my 








back upon an awful sin, and I 
pray God to blot it from my 
: He took 
off his coat and rolled up his 





memory. Look here.” 


shirt sleeve. ‘‘See these pictures, see those names? 


There is the story of a crime darker—what are you doing 





<a 
a o 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 245 


there?’ The office boy was peeping in at the door. 
‘‘ Say, there, did you take an old vest out of that closet?” 
er SIT. 

*“Well, I don’t think I want you any longer. Come 
round to-morrow morning and I’ll pay you off. Go on now.”’ 

He rolled down his sleeve. ‘‘SometimelI will tell you 
all about it, Hartley.’ 

‘‘And I can wait patiently, Howard, for I know that 
you have shown me the mark of an indiscretion rather 
than the record of a crime.”’ 

Bryce went to the door, which the boy had left partly 


open. ‘‘ Why, the ground is covered with snow,’’ he 
' said. ‘‘ Winter is here sure enough. I’ll put on some 
more coal.”’ 


*“Not on my account,’’ Hartley remarked, ‘‘ for I am 
going now.”’ . 

‘“Wait a little longer,’’ Bryce replied, turning from the 
door and taking up the coal scuttle. ‘‘ That boy hasn’t 
left any coal,” he added. ‘‘ Wait until I step back and 
get some.’’ He went out and when he returned with the 
coal he said: ‘‘’The wind comes sweeping down the 
river. I remember that when I was a boy, and with the 
odd fancies of a boy, I once stood in winter at the wharf, 
startled at the thought that the cold wind was the passing 
breath of men killed in battle. What are you smiling at, 

"Hartley? Is the idea humorous?” 


246 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘Oh, I wasn’t thinking of your cold wind fancy, but 
of your attempt to make yourself out a mysterious crimi- 
nal. Why, no man could be more generous than you 
and IJ am sure that no man is more honorable.”’ 

Having mended the fire, Bryce resumed his seat. ‘‘Gen- 
erosity,’’ said he, ‘‘ is but an impressive carelessness ; we 
possess something, we care nothing for it, being too much 
like an animal to estimate it properly, and we give it away. 
And honor is a sort of pretense which a man must keep 
up among men, but which he may drop among 
woimen.’’ 

‘“You are getting into one of your moods,” the preacher 
replied. ‘‘I thought that you had put aside all cynicism. 
You know that aman, honorable toward man, is honorable 
toward woman.” 

‘“My dear fellow, I know nothing of the sort. Don’t 
honorable men steal from women?” | 

‘*'No, damnable men do.’’ 

‘Oh, but among men they are honorable. Boys are 
taught to be honorable and girls are taught to be virtuous. 
And the boy can be honorable without being virtuous. 
So therein lies the social story of this life. But don’t 
look at me that way.” 

‘“VYou said that you were ready to join my church, 
that you had experienced a new birth, a change of heart.” 

‘‘Ves, that’s true enough; but the new life has not* 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 247 


robbed me of a proper estimate of the old. But we’ll 
‘let it go. How is your boy?” 

“Delightful ! Why don’t you come out and see him ?” 

“Twill; I will come with my wife, Must you go? 
Oh, I forgot that you must preach to-morrow.”’ 

The preacher stood at the door, holding Bryce’s 
hand. ‘‘ Do not cease to pray,’’ he said. 

‘‘ For myself?” Bryce asked, laughing. 

AES...” 

‘* But that would be selfishness. Let me pray for your 
boy, and boys that are snugged by their mothers away up 
the river in the mountains where the cold wind gathers 
its force. I must still have my quiet fun with you,’’ he 
laughed. ‘‘ Good night.”’ 

Bryce sat down and again took up his lawcase. He 
reminded himself of a boy striving to untangle a fishing 
line; there were kinks here and kinks there, and when one 
was straightened, another was made. He looked at his 
watch; half past eleven. He put away his papers; he 
would not work so near the edge of Sunday; he was going 
to be religious. He sat there, smoking, musing. ‘The 
new year was not far off. The influence of its new hopes 
could be felt; its whisperings were in the air, in the snow 
that was drifting. He remembered a new year when he 
had been weak and nervous, afraid of strange-looking 
men, of shadows; now he was strong, saw no shadows, 


248 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


could smile at a substance. Midnight was striking; the 


hour was passed on from one bell to another, up the river, 


down the river... He put out the gas and stood at the 
door, looking back. The fire was blazing and shadows 
were dancing, on the ceiling, on the green table, among 
his law books. He locked the door, tried it to see if it 
were secure, and turned down the street toward his room. 
Snow was falling fast. A carriage glided by, noiseless, a 
black phantom. Just as he had passed an alley, some 
one spoke his name and stepped in front of him— 
his office boy. He asked the boy what he wanted. 
He said that he would like to ask him a question. 
‘‘ Well.’’ But he did not ask it; he stood there, shifting 
about. Bryce thought that he heard a muffled step. 
He turned, something struck him and felled him to the 


ground. se? sie a syeh Gena Meine 


Hours must have passed. He could not gather his 
thoughts; he was sensible of but two things, that he was 
numb from head to foot and that he was moving along. 
He strove to cry out, but could not; he was bound and 
gagged. Gradually his senses came back to him. He was 
lying on his back with a blanket thrown over him. He 
raised up; the snow spat in his face. A dog barked; he 
heard the loud creak of a corn crib door—he knew that a 
farmer was feeding his stock, that it was day. The road 
grew rougher and the wagon jolted. Daylight came. “Got 


Te) ee 
~ <.% 





He asked the boy what he wanted. 


Page 248, 





7 > ee 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 249 


a dead man in there?’’ some one asked, riding along by 
the side of the wagon. 

*“No,’’ a voice answered. ‘‘ We are taking a horse 
thief back to the mountains.’’ 

‘“Good, and I hope you will treat him all right when 
you get him there. Country’s getting pretty thick with 
them lately. Manin my neighborhood had a fine horse 
stolen night before last, and I shouldn’t wonder but this 
is the very chap. Suppose you drive by with me.” 

“We know that this is not the man. He fled straight 
from the mountains, and we followed so close that he had 
no time to turn aside to steal another horse.” 

‘“ What have you got that stick in his mouth for ?”’ 

“To keep him from blaspheming the name of the 
dora.” 

**You ought to stop right here and hang him. How 
far have you got to go?’’ 

‘* A very long distance. So you turn off here? Good 
morning. ”’ 

Bryce, raising up, saw two men on a seat in front of 
him, and just behind them in the bottom of the wagon a 
boy was asleep on the straw. On Bryce’s breast lay 
something that was not a part of the blanket — it was the 
waistcoat- that had hung in his closet. He strove to 
sit up, but, stiffened and numb, it was some time 
before he succeeded. ‘The country was growing wilder, 


250 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


and it was evident that they were taking the loneliest 
way. 

One of the men looked around. ‘‘ Ha! our patient is 
sitting up. But we must warn him not to exert himself. 
Mister — we don’t know your other name—TI will take 
that thing out of your mouth, for it is not our instruc- 
tions nor our desire to visit petty punishments upon you, 
but I must warn you that if you cry out or talk to any 
one whom we may chance to meet, that I shall be com- 
pelled to cut your throat.” 

Bryce nodded and the man came back and took away 
the gag. ‘‘I will keep you company,” he said. ‘‘ Turn 
to the right there, Brother Furgerson. Mister, it has 
been a long time since you left us, two years or more.” 

‘“Mr. Hallett, I remember you, and I must beg of you 
not to twit me. ‘To torture a fellow creature is not the 
province of a godly man.’’ 

‘‘ Mister, that is true, nor shall I attempt it. We were 
not instructed by the Council to torture you. You will 
notice that we have cut our hair. And I wish to tell you 
that it was a dispensation of the Council. It was our 
religious duty not to attract attention. Ah, I have looked 
jong and wearily for you. When you first left us we 
knew not which way to turn. It was remembered that 
you had said that you were from Devonshire, England. 
We were simple, and I was sent thither. Yes, we sold 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 251 


all our linen to get money enough for the journey. I trod 
on many an acre of that country, and returned weary and 
discouraged. Then we sent men to different towns in this 
state. One of them heard you make a great speech. He 
was almost certain that you were the man, but we were 
instructed to be absolute in our knowledge of you, to see 
those pictures on your arms. ‘The time was long but it 
came. Our little son went to your office to serve you. 
But you are a wise man; you know it all.”’ 

‘“Ves, and I know another thing, Mr. Hallett ; I know 
that my disappearance will cause a great sensation.” 

‘“Yes, it did cause one, something more than two years 
ago.” 

‘* And it will result in the breaking up of your com- 
munity, Mr. Hallett.” 

‘“Mister, you area lawyer. Did you ever know a man 
to be punished for killing the destroyer of his home? A 
daughter is ruined ; the law that is not written justifies 
the vengeance of the father. You cannot threaten us 
into mercy, and I advise you to employ some other force.” 

The man on the wagon seat did not look round. The 
boy was still asleep. ‘‘I am willing to be tried by the 
written law,’’ Bryce replied. 

‘‘ Mister, it is kind of you to be so pliant, but we are 
asking no concession.”’ 

‘Will you please untie my hands?” 


252 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘‘Mercy might yield, but justice says no, and justice 
should be stronger than mercy.’’ 

‘*T don’t suppose that I have a right to ask for any- 
thing.” 

‘‘ No, you should not even ask God to forgive you. 
That would be a mockery, and to mock God is to run 
toward eternal punishment.’’ 

‘* Of all the beings that ever lived, I am the most mis- 
erable,” Bryce groaned. ‘‘I am the most inhuman of all 
wretches ; I am beyond forgiveness.”’ 

‘“ That is for the Council to determine.” 

This gave Bryce ahope. It was for the Council to 
determine, and had he not seen that Council ecstatic 
under the influence of his words? He would plead with 
them, tell them that the devil had tempted him out of 
hatred of the chosen people, that he had fallen and that 
he implored them not indeed to spare his life, but to inter- 
cede for his soul. ‘This would prove to them that he still 
believed in their faith, and scorning to plead simply for 
his life would stimulate a respect for him. He lay down 
again and strove to picture the newspaper head lines an- 
nouncing his mysterious disappearance. Reporters would 
interview Hartley and sentimentalities would be gushed 
over Miss Neil. Detectives would be sent out, but would 
they think of going to Bolga? And suppose they did; 
might it not be toolate? ‘The chosen people would dare 


- 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 2a 


to kill him, for enraged fanaticism looks upon blood as a 
sweet cordial; but could they resist his pleading? ‘They 
could not. Again he sat up and looked about him. No 
fences, no houses within sight. 

*““How far are we from the city, Mr. Hallett?” he 
asked. 

““Our company lengthens or shortens a distance,’’ he 
answered. 

‘‘T thought that you were not going to twit me.” 

‘Pardon me. I don’t know how far we are.”’ 

‘“ How long will it take us to reach Bolga?”’ 

‘“We should be there by the end of the fourth day.’’ 

‘*So long as that?’ 

‘“Your impatience to reach the village is peculiar.”’ 

‘“‘And a desire to remain here, tied hand and foot, 
would be more peculiar. Tell me about Benjamin.” 

He looked away as he said this; he was afraid to hear. 

‘‘Benjamin,” said Hallett, ‘‘is well, and he often 
speaks of you.”’ 

‘* No doubt. But was he badly hurt?’’ 

““Ves, and we thought that he should die. His coun- 
tenance is much changed.’’ 

‘‘It has grown graver, I suppose.” 

‘«'There is a scar on his forehead,’”’ Hallett replied. 

‘¢ What time that night did they find him?’’ 

“They found him not at night, but at morning.” 


954 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET, 


‘‘Wasn’t the alarm given that night?” 

‘We knew nothing until morning.” 

‘‘Didn’t Alma go to her father’s house?” 

‘‘She went to the house of the Prophet, to her own 
room, to weep there. The other wives heard her and 
sought to comfort her, but she begged of them to go 
away, and they left her alone, but she came out and 
started toward the woods, and they stopped her and 
thinking that she had been bereft of her reason, they 
worked with her until morning. Then some one told the 
Councilman Boyle, and when he came she told him 4ll 
about you.’’ | 

‘‘Mr. Hallett, I wish I had died that night.” 

‘* Mister, I wish you had died ere you were born.” 

‘“Let me tell you, Mr. Hallett, that the devil tempted 
me 

‘To do what? ‘To come among us or to go away?” 

‘To go away. He was afraid of the Saviour of man- 
kind.” 

Hallett touched Bryce’s neck and then touched the 
handle of a knife. ‘‘I cannot control your thoughts,”’ 
said he, ‘‘ but there are words that you must not utter.” 

‘‘ Pardon me if I have wounded you.’’ 

‘Vou have not wounded me; you offend God, and if I 
do not cut your throat when you next offend Him, I shall 
offend Him also. Turn to the left, Brother Furgerson, 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 255 


and let us stop at the creek where we may get water for 
breakfast.” 

The boy awoke, but without looking at Bryce, climbed 
upon the seat with the man and rode on in silence. 

‘‘Ts that your son?” Bryce asked. 

‘‘No, the son of Councilman Blake.”’ 

‘* And I used to teach him at school. I ought to have 
known him.” 

‘«'We made him look older with the sap stewed out of 
roots. You taught him well; he is a smart boy.”’ 

The road was rough and they bumped along in silence. 
Snow had ceased to fall; the air was warmer and seemed 
to be coming up the river, but the clouds were still dark. 
They halted at the creek, a wild looking place, and Fur- 
gerson got out to water the horses. 

*‘T will untie your hands and let you eat breakfast,” 

Hallett said to Bryce. 
, ‘*JT thank you.” 

When his hands had been untied Bryce asked if he 
might stand up, and Hallett granted him that privilege. 
Within a few hours what a change had come upon the 
world, Bryce thought, as he stood there, looking at the 
hills far away. But he refused to brood over his condi- 
tion ; he needed his strength for defense. 

‘“We are ready to go, and you have eaten nothing,” 
Hallett remarked. ‘‘Hold out your hands; I must tie you.” 


256 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘T pledge you my word and honor as a gentleman that 
I will not try to escape.”’ 

‘‘Asa what? A gentleman? But I suppose you are 
a gentleman as the world knows one. Hold out your 
hands. Now you are more of a gentleman,’’ he added, 
when he had tied the rope. ‘‘ Yes, quite a harmless 
gentleman.” 

‘“Mr. Hallett, you are sarcastic enough for a United 
States judge.” 

‘“But too much so for a gentleman, I fear. Let me see 
what time it is by your watch. Thank you. Brother 
Furgerson, we are going to have rain.” 

‘“Yes, I think so,’’ Furgerson replied; ‘‘ but if we 
push onward we may sleep in a house to-night.” 

‘‘ Will you also let me sleep in the house?’ Bryce 
asked. » 

‘‘Oh, yes,’’ Hallett answered. ‘‘ There is one house 
on the road wherein we may stop for the night, but only 
ane, s 

‘*'Why only one ?’’ 

‘“ Because we may stop there, and the man of the place 
will say nothing of having entertained us. You may 
want to know why. And I can tell you that the man has 
led an adventurous life ; that he is aware of our knowledge 
of it, and would not run the risk of having the law reach 
back after him.” 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 257 


Far ahead the sky was bordered with a blacker rim, 
and by noon they were ina sifting rain. Continuously 
Bryce strove to fight off the sharpest sense of his trouble, 
but in ceaseless vibration it came back to strike him. 
Over our gravest misfortunes we do not brood with words, 
but with pictures ; and Bryce saw the excitement that his 
disappearance would cause, the anxiety of Hartley, the 
distress of Miss Neil; but these were merely the dimmest of 
etchings, the drawings of an idle moment in comparison 
with one scene—the end of it all. If it were to be deter- 
mined that he should die, what form of death would they 
prescribe? He saw himself hanging from the tree at the 
well, saw himself thrown headlong from the cliff whereon 
he and Silvia had stood, pictured himself ina flame at 
a stake in front of the Temple, on the spot where The 
Age of Reason had been burned. But with a constant 
batting of his inner eye, he strove to blur these scenes. 
He would hoard his fancies as though they were the fibres 
of a vital force, for when the time of his trial should 
come, those mind essences must vivify his sorrow 
and his humility, must move those grave old men to 
pity. 

Still wilder the country grew and in this there was to 
Bryce a sort of hopelessness ; it destroyed the possibility 
of rescue. But there had been no such possibility, for 
several days must pass before his disappearance should 

i 


258 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


begin to excite alarm. No, there was no hope save in 
the power of his own words. a 

They passed an abandoned coal mine. Once there had 

been a bloody fight at this place—between the miners, and 

th e mine owners who 

is { NT ae Rae «ef~~ had attempted to 

ik ru (“introduce convict labor, 

and now froma tree flap- 

ere ped the tattered remains 







of a sheriff hanged in ef- 

figy. To Bryce’s mind this was a 

scare-crow and he brooded over it. 

‘“Let us stop here and eat our 
dinner,” said Hallett. 

“‘Can’t we goon just a little 





SSS 
—s 
Lave) 
G 
+ 
ay 
oy 
@) 
Lan y 
~v 
we) 
| 
4 
QO 
(@) 
0 
ep 
Aa 
a?) 
os 


— 


‘‘ Mister, I am pleased to see 





Za z = 
Za 


= See ahs & Se 
Se SS he 
Cy eA. | * 
Cee Re Eten * AG 
es eee ao, \ a 


rae 
= 


you anxious to be nearer the 





Ge 


village.” 

‘‘It isnot that. I want to get 
away from that infernal thing 
hanging there.”’ 

‘‘ Brother Furgerson, there is 
no water further on. Let us stop here. Mister, I will 
untie your hands.”’ 

When Furgerson announced that the horses were 


tle 


ks 


ay - 

THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 259 
done eating, Hallett commanded: ‘‘Give me your , 
hands.’’ 


““Can’t you leave the rope off just a little longer?” 
Bryce pleaded. ‘‘ Man, you don’t know what an outrage 
you are committing in using methis way. ‘The people of 
this state look upon me as their next governor.” 

‘* Ah, and if elected you will have an opportunity to 
pardon your own crimes. Few men have been so fort- 
unate. Hold out your hands.” 

‘“’That cord is cutting my ankles in two.”’ 

‘* But still,” Hallett replied, ‘‘it is not so sharp as the 
cord that has cut hearts in two.”’ 

‘Mr. Hallett, the noblest quality of man is mercy.” 

‘* Mister, the most godly quality of man is justices: 

‘*You so aptly set forth the principles of your creed 
that it is a wonder you had not been selected as a mem- 
ber of the Council.’’ 

‘This would be a compliment were it not meant in 
contempt. Among my people I talk but little, I think ; 
but with you I need not think, I can talk.’’ 

‘‘T wonder, Mr. Hallett, that I had not become better 
acquainted with you.’’ 

‘‘ And I grieve, Mister, that we were all forced into so 
intimate an acquaintance with you.”’ 

Bryce was silent, brooding over the flapping effigy. 
Evening was coming on; they passed a buzzard roost. 


260 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


‘‘’Those birds, ”’’ said Hallett, ‘‘ will eat a dead dog, 
but they are fonder of the carcass of a man.” 

“Ves,” Bryce replied, ‘“‘for I suppose they have a | 
creed.”’ 

Hallett opened his coat, showed the handle of his knife; 
and they drove on in silence. Night came ; they saw a 
light, heard the barking of dogs. ‘‘ We are going to stop 
at that house,’’ said Hallett, ‘‘and we are going to per- 
mit you to sit by the fire, but if you contradict anything 
I say I must cut your throat.’’ 

‘But can you say anything that is not true?’ 

‘‘ Mister, religion is for the ultimate good of all men, 
and a lie told for religion finds its way to heaven asa 
truth. Brother Furgerson, stop the wagon here, and the 
Mister and I will get out. You and our son put up the 
horses, and then come to the house.’’ 

A man stood in a doorway, scolding his dogs. ‘* Got 
back, have you?” he said when the light fell upon Hal- 
lett. ‘‘Long time in comin’, but I reckon you are all 
right. Step in. Got a good fire for you, but, Nan,’ he 
added, speaking to a lank woman, ‘‘reckon you better 
fetch a little more wood. Sorter have to drag your friend 
along. What's the trouble with him? Got him tied, eh? 
Well, set him down here.”’ 

Bryce was acquainted with the host — Mr. Tuck Ben- 
son. ‘‘ What has he been doin’ ?” Benson asked. 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 261 


“Stealing horses,” Hallett replied. 

‘That so? Well, then, what’s the use in takin’ him 
any furder ; why not hang him right here? I’ve gota 
good rope back thar’ under the bed, and as the weather 
is a little bad we can hang him in here from one of these 
here beams. What do you say ?” 

“No, Pll take him on. Don’t you remember him? 
He stood guard over you one day.” 

“Yes, sir, he’s the man. Say, let me slip that rope 
around him, will you? I wouldn’t trust him three feet, 
and if he gits away from you he’ll go right straight and 
tell the gover’ment that I used to make whisky. It 
don’t make no difference to him even if I have give up 
whisky an’ come away off down here; a hoss thief will 
do anything. If you don’t want to hang him stand 
him out thar an’ let me take a crack at him with my 
fuzee. No? Wall, now be shore that you take good 
kere o’ him. Don’t want no gover’ment fellers a comin’ 
on me at this late day. Put the wood on the fire, Nan. 
Look thar! we’ve got a hoss thief.”’ 

The woman dropped the wood and _ started back. 
‘“That’s all right, Nan; he's tied. Stir about now an’ 
git us all a bite to eat. Two mo’ fellers to come.” 

Furgerson and the boy came in, and Bryce, speaking 
to the youngster said: ‘‘I owe you about three dollars. 
When I told you to come around to-morrow so that I 


262 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


might pay you, I did not think that the day following 
was Sunday. I have money in my pocket. Get it out.” 

The boy paid no attention to him, did not look at him. 
The woman stepped in between Bryce and the boy, raked 
out a bed of coals, threw on slices of bacon and then 
busied herself with arranging the table. 

‘*Come, all hands,’’ said Benson when his wife with 
along fork began to take up the bacon. ‘‘Jest fall to 
now an’ devour what’s set before you. I don’t mean 
you,” he added, nodding at Bryce. ‘‘ No hoss thief kin 
sit down at my table with me. Nan, give him something 
on a tin plate. Ontie his hands, Cap’n. If he tries to 
git away I’ll kill him befo’ he gits to the do’.” 

After supper Mr. Benson sought to entertain his guests. 
He had slipped through many a dangerous place, and sev- 
eral times the revenue men hadcaptured him. Once they 
were about to hang him to a tree, and for the only time 
in his life he got down to what he termed solid praying. 

‘‘ An’ I tell him that it was the prar that saved him,”’ 
said the woman. 

‘“That mout be,’’ Benson replied, ‘‘ but I rather think 
it was Alf an’ them other fellers that come a crawlin’ 
down the creek. But atter all, if it is intended fur a man 
to be hung he’s goin’ that way, an’ that’s all thar’ is to 
it. I’m putty much of a Hard Shell Baptist. Whut’s 
yo’ belief, Cap’n?” he asked, nodding at Hallett. 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 263 


‘“T believe in God,” Hallett answered. 

“Yes, that’s nachul, but in whut sort of a dose do you 
swollow yo’ religion? Do you believe in baptisin’ by 
sousin’ or by jest sorter dabbin’ water on a feller?’’ 

‘‘T know nothing of baptising, for such trickery appeals 
not tome. Well, make your arrangements for the night, 
for we are tired and desire to liedown. You have but 
one bed, I notice.” 

‘*One bed in this room an’ one in the little shed room 
a jinin’. You fellers may have this room. The do’ twixt 
this an’ the shed room is fastened by a heavy bar on yon 
side, an’ one of you kin lay down in front of this here do’ 
that goes out, to keep the hoss thief frum gittin’ away.” 

‘*Mister,’’ said Hallett to Bryce, ‘‘you may sleep in 
the bed. I will lie down by the door, Brother Furgerson 
will lie under the window and our son will sleep in front 
of the fire.” 

‘‘T thank you, sir,” said Bryce, ‘‘but will you untie 
me so that I may sleep?” 

‘“Mister, we may tie a man’s hands and feet but we 
cannot bind him so fast that he may not slip into slumber. 
You need remove nothing. Lie down on the bed.’ 

Bryce stretched himself upon the feather bed, and 
although his wrists and ankles pained him, swelling and 
throbbing, he soon fell asleep. It must have been mid- 
night when the pain awoke him. The fire was low, the 


264 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


room was almost dark. He raised up and looked about 
the room. The men and the boy were asleep. His 
hands were not tied behind him, and he turned over on 
his breast and with his teeth began to tug at the knot. 
He thought of cabinet tricksters who could untie them- 
selves in a moment and he wished that he had taken a 
lesson of them. He heard one of the men turn over and 
he lay still, listening. All was silent and again he began 
to gnaw the rope. An hour must have passed—but his 
hands were free. And now, after rubbing his wrists, he 
began cautiously to work at the rope that bound his 
ankles. But the knot wasso hard that he could do noth- 


ing. So, after all, he must give up. He straightened 


himself out with a groan. Suddenly he thrust his fingers 
into his waistcoat pocket and took out a small knife. It 
was a mere toy but it was big enough. He cut the rope 
and for a few moments he lay there, rubbing his swollen 
ankles. Now what? To get out through the window or 
the door was impossible. Perhaps he could make 
his way through the roof. He knew that nails were 
sometimes so scarce in the back woods that clap-boards 
were often heid in place by poles laid along the roof. He 
stood on the bed and could easily reach a cross-beam. He 
climbed upon it, he shoved hard against the roof. The 
boards yielded. He worked until he got his hand 
through, and after that it took but a short time to make 


- y. = Riess . 
. ; = st 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 265 


an opening large enough to admit his body. He got his 
head and his arms through the opening. One foot was 
off the beam. Something touched his leg. He hung 
there, motionless. His heart had almost ceased to beat. 

‘Mister, has the devil tempted you again?” It was 
Hallett. ‘‘ Come back or I'll stab you. Easy now; put 


your foot on the beam. That’sit. Now you are all 
right. Brother Furgerson, give me that other rope.” 


CHAPTER 2036 


The journey was resumed at early morning. A dark 
mist lay low to the earth, the air was cold, motionless; 
and when the team was stopped midway a hill to blow, 
Bryce looked up at a dead tree and wished that it might 
fall upon him. Not again did he ask them to untie his 
hands, for he felt that he had thrust himself beyond the 
province of a privilege. How earnestly Benson had 
begged for permission to kill him, when he saw the hole 
that had been made in his roof, and how gravely had the 
woman demanded the right to scald him when she found 
that by exposing her best bed to the weather he had 
abused her hospitality. 

Hallett sat beside Bryce. ‘‘When I am brought to 
trial,’’ said the prisoner, ‘‘I suppose you will tell the 
Council that I tried to get away.” 

‘‘T shall tell them nothing ; they know enough. It 
was but natural that you should try to get away.”’ 

‘‘T am glad, Mr. Hallett, that you look at it in so 
humane a light.’’ 

‘You may express it that way if you choose, but you 
might simply have reminded me that I excused the dog 
for running from the broom handle.’’ 

266 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 267 


‘*Mr. Hallett, did you ever think that the cruelest 
creature in this life is man ?”’ 

‘* Yes, and it has been proved to me that his victim is 
woman.”’ 

‘That may be true, but man’s cruelty to woman is not 
exercised alone for the sake of cruelty ; he has another 
motive and cruelty may be the result.’”’ 

‘“ Mister, a gentleman might put it that way to excuse 
himself, but God has another estimate. Let them pull 
ahead now, Brother Furgerson. Mister, it may not be a 
cheering opinion, but I will tell you that at the present 
rate of travel we may reach the village by to-morrow 
night.” 

‘Mr. Hallett, almost any prospect is better than this 
certainty. I would rather die than to remain much longer 
tied like a calf hauled to market. I don’t see how I 
could get away if you were to untie my feet.” 

‘“And I don’t see, Mister, how you can get away if I 
keep them tied.’’ 

Bryce mused that by this time there must be spreading 
an anxiety concerning his disappearance. No, not. yet, 
for among his friends it was known that he was wont to 
close his office, should he take the notion, and go away, 
no one knew whither ; therefore, it was useless to look 
backward for help—he must look forward. In his mind 
he framed a speech, and he startled himself with its power. 


268 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


It was not possible that those men, so simple, so imagi- 
native, could resist him. He would catch Boyle’s fury 
and pass it back to him, mellowed with pity: he would 
take up the Father’s sorrow and turn it into a forgiveness. 
Over and over he repeated his argument and it grew 
stronger in expression and deeper in its appeal for 
sympathy. 

That night they slept in the woods; they had traveled 
all day in a cloud, and their campfire wrought monstrous 
shapes in the mist. At early morning they were astir— 
onward through a valley and up the side of a mountain. 
Over and over Bryce continued to repeat his speech, until 
now he csuld hear the words as though someone were 
shouting them. Once he was so moved that he cried out, 
‘“ Good.” 

‘‘ Mister, can it be that you are taiking to yourself?” 
Hallett asked. 

Bryce started, stammered in embarrassment and an- 
swered: ‘‘ Yes, it must be so.” 

‘*But you cried ‘Good.’ Could that have been 
addressed to yourself?” 

‘The word might not have applied to myself.”’ 

“Tt surely did not.” 

‘“Mr. Hallett, your torture of me will soon be at an end. 
I am ready to meet the Council. ‘Those just men know 
how weak it is to sin and how strong it is to forgive.” 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 269 


Hallett slowly turned and looked at him. ‘‘’That is the 
nearest to a sensible remark that I have heard you make, 
but like many a sensible saying, it carries a flaw. To for- 
ceive the weakness of a sin is sometimes a strength; but 
sometimes forgiveness is of itself a weakness, almost 
a sin.” 

‘‘Mr. Hallett, to permit me to hope is as little as you 
can do.”’ | 

‘* Perhaps it is less.”’ 

Bryce looked at the stern face of the Bolgaite and 
replied: ‘‘I have never known a hangman that would 
render his victim utterly hopeless.” 

“Ah! perhaps your acquaintance with a hangman has 
not been so intimate as it may become.”’ 

‘*T don’t care to talk to you.” 

‘‘Mister, the domain of silence is free. There no 
claims are marked off; a privilege awaits every comer.”’ 

‘*Very good, Mr. Hallett, but I have ceased to be sur- 
prised at anything a Bolga man might say. You could 
not astonish me so much with a speech as you might by 
repeating the multiplication table.’’ 

They made good time, skirting the sides of the mount- 
ains, bearing to the right and to the left, like a vessel 
tacking, and late in the afternoon they came to the base 
of a long slope, slanting from the east. Here they halted, 
and Hallett untied Bryce’s feet. ‘‘ You and our son and 


270 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


I will walk up a nearer way,’’ he said. ‘‘ Brother Fur- 
gerson will drive round.”’ | 

Bryce could scarcely walk at first, but to permit him to 
try, though it was painful, was a great favor to him, and 
he said: ‘‘ Mr. Haliett, this is a piece of kindness, and I 
thank you for it.’’ 

The Bolgaite smiled grimly but replied not. Hour 
after hour they walked, silent; and Bryce, looking back, 
saw that the clouds had parted far below, saw the dim 
sun going down. 

‘‘For a time we will rest here,” said Hallett, pointing 
toa rock. Bryce advanced a few steps, looked about 
him, over the brow of the rock, and quickly caught his 
breath. Hewas on the summit of the west mountain, 
and below him lay the village. On this rock he had sat 
with Alma, looking at the sinking sun, and at Benjamin 
standing in the door of the schoolhouse. A weary age 
had passed since then; an age of night disturbed by 
dreams. He stood leaning against the cold rock ; he saw 
the house of the Prophet, saw a woman at the well. But 
he must not brood over what had passed ; he must nerve 
himself to meet that which was to come. And back to 
him came his speech, his argument for life, and through 
his mind it swept like a wind. : 

‘‘ Mister, what think you of the view? I am speaking 
to you, Mister.” He touched Bryce’s arm. 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. QUA 


‘‘FHxcuse me ; I did not hear you.” 
“‘Tt-1is well that you are so thoughtful. What think 
you of the view ?’’ 










‘A scene spread out by 
the hand of peace,’’ Bryce 
auswered. 


ome 
—s— 


The Bolgaite, pulling 
his beard, looked hard at 
Mice if you could’ 


=e 


surprise me,’’ he said, ‘‘I 
should wonder that you 
could say that. Once it 





was spread out by the hand of peace, and it may be again 
in the years to come. Mister, my relationship with you 


he ae Rike m4 a /~ 






TG Miata ae “THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET, 2 


* ’ craig 


will soon come as an end. We will remain 
dark, and then go down into the village. oa 


in the dark, and i in the dark you ‘shall return 


a 


ae Furgerson will reach there first, and the Council wi 
-—-- ready to receive you. Here at this rock we cease 
















poet to. each other. 








AES pet. 


x 











CHAPTER XXI. 


Through the darkness Bryce was led, down into the 
village. Nowhere was there a light, the houses were 
closed and no evening lullaby was heard. Through the 
prisoner’s mind his speech was sweeping, strong, like a 
rush of water, and though like a dog he was led, with a 
rope about his neck, he walked with a confident tread. 
Under the brow of the Temple a lone man stood, waiting, 
and when Hallet and his prisoner drew near, a voice said: 
“Follow me.’’? They followed him to the bath room, 
where a dim light was burning. The man whom they 
had followed was Councilman Blake. ‘‘ Untie his hands,” 
the Councilman commanded, and as Hallett began to 
untie the rope the Councilman continued: ‘‘ Mister, we 
shall leave you here alone. And when you have washed 
yourself, put on this robe. Soon I shall come and 
conduct you into the presence of the Father and the 
brethren.” 

The water was cold and made him shudder, but it was 
soothing to his swollen legs and arms, and when he had 
tempered his body to its chill, he stretched himself in the 
stone basin and lay there, listening. Heheard the faint 

18 273 


274. THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


cry of a child, and he splashed the water in scrambling to 
his feet, and he stood on the edge of the basin and by 
tiptoeing gazed through the small window. He could» 
discern the house of the Prophet. Again he heard the 
child cry, and he saw a light flash in one of the rooms; 
in Alma’s room he thought. He stood there with his 
chin resting on the cold ledge of the window, gazing at 
the light, and a new, a strange sympathy was in his 
heart, but through his mind his speech was sweeping. 
There came a knock at the door, and a voice cried: 
‘‘ Are you ready?” He answered that he would be ina 
moment, and he climbed down and put on the robe, a 
robe blacker than the darkness through which Hallett 
had led him, with a rope about his neck, like a dog. ‘‘I 
am ready,’’ he cried, and the Councilman opened the 
door. And there stood Hallett with his ropes. ‘‘ Bind 
him,’ said the Councilman. This time his hands were 
tied behind him, and a rope was also bound about his 
ankles, but with a slack so that he could walk. Now it 
was the Councilman instead of Hallett who put the rope 
about his neck, and holding one end, he said: ‘‘ Come 
with me. Brother Hallett,’ he added, ‘‘ good night.” 
The prisoner was led into the black room of the temple. 

For a moment after entering he could see nothing save a 
small lamp dimly burning on the altar, but gradually 
arose the forms of four men, the Father and the 





The prisoner was led into the blackroom of the temple. 


Page 274. 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 2D 


Councilmen, arrayed in black. Councilman Blake 
dropped the rope, took up a black robe and wrapped him- 
self in it. Nota word had been spoken, and motionless 
they stood, black statues in the dim light. When was 
that silence to be broken, the prisoner wondered, and how 
could they break it without a rude shock to that deep 
solemnity? But his speech! It was gone, it had swept 
out of his mind, and he stood there, helpless, his knees 
smiting together, dumb, .cold with the dew of despair 
upon his brow. And still not a word was uttered. He 
gazed with a curious eagerness from one to another, but 
the glance of no eye met his own. 

‘“ Merciful God !” he cried, and upon the floor he fell, 
sobbing. 

‘‘TIf you are a man instead of a creature that crawls, 
get up,’ a voice commanded, and he knew that the Father 
had spoken to him. He got up, and now he looked not 
from one to another, to catch the expression of an eye, 
but gazed at the floor, the blackness under his feet 

‘* Mister,” said the Father, ‘‘ look at me.’’ 

Bryce slowly lifted his eyes until they rested upon the 
worn and grief-stricken face of that old man. ‘‘ Mister, 
since you left us we have learned many things about the 
world and its heartless treacheries. To look for you our 
brethren went abroad into the fields of sin, and we know 


now what means you employed to impose upon us. And 


276 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


now you are brought to judgment for a crime blacker 
than the spirit of hell. It is but natural that you should 
seek to defend yourself, and we shall give you an oppor- 
tunity to do this, to influence a setting aside of the judg- 
ment that already has been passed upon you, but first I 
request you to tell us how you discovered the secret of 
our creed.” 

Bryce briefly told them that while lying upon a rock in 
a cave he had heard them renew the covenant of their 
faith. The old man shook his head. ‘‘ It was com- 
manded,”’ said he, ‘‘ that we should go into a place not 
made by hands, and in that place we were beset with a 
devil.- But God knows best.” For a few moments he 
was silent, but not motionless, with his arms folded; he 
was turning helplessly about from one to another. “ Oh, 
you have almost swept-from me the faith that has kept 
my soul alive!’ he cried: ‘‘ You found a pure religion, 
and into it you poured a deadly poison. How could you 
have done so cruel a thing? It seems beyond the reach ~ 
of human meanness. <Ah, but what a mighty lesson you 
have taught,” he added, his voice regaining its firmness. 
‘‘you have proved that religion, pure and holy though it 
may be, must keep pace with the shrewdness and the 
intelligence of the world in order that it may protect 
itself against the snares of the world. Innocence is not 


sfety ; wisdom alone is protection.’’ 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. QL 


‘‘ Father s 
The old man sprang at him as though he would tear 





him to pieces. ‘Do not speak that name again!” he 
cried. And then bowing as though in submission to an 
unseen force, he stepped back. ‘‘ What were you going. 
to say?” he asked. 

‘‘T was going to beg for the permission to ask a few 
questions.”’ 

“You may proceed. It is well that we should hear any- 
thing that you may have to say.’’ 

“I thank you sir. In my mind I had formed a speech 
in my defense, but the speech is gone, not a word of it 
has remained, and I must content myself with asking 
questions. Why did I goto the mountains? Why was 
I mistaken for a revenue officer? Why was I to overhear 
the rehearsal of your faith, and hearing it, who tempted 
me? If I were tempted of the devil, then why should I 
be punished for the devil’s strength? If nature gave me 
strong passions, so strong that I could but yield to them, 
why should I be held accountable for the strength of 
nature? Suppose I fought against the temptation to come 
here as the Prophet, and failed? Suppose the humanity 
within me revolted at the thonght, but that nature urged 
me on, whose crime was it? My father was known as an 
honorable man, and he urged upon me to be honorable 
to all men, but he said nothing about women. My 


278 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


mother, with the innocence of a mother, thought that I 
was pure, but my father knew that I was not. He told 
me to be careful, but he did not even hint that what we 
know as virtue among women was a manly quality. Like 
the majority of men he argued that nature had made a 
difference in the moral responsibility of the sexes, granting 
to man a privilege that it withheld from a woman, and it 
was thus that I was reared. This, though, is what I wish 
to impress upon you: Is not nature in a measure to blame?” 

He felt the force of Boyle’s merciless eyes, and he 
looked down. The Father spoke. ‘‘I know nothing of ar- 
guments as they are held among men of the world, but to 
me and to us, what you have said is weak and unworthy 
of a man. Mister, we have learned that among your 
people you have become great, and if you can be great 
among many people, how could you be so mean among 
a few? ‘To this lonely place you have brought questions 
that should be asked and answered in the world and not 
here, for with us a man is as pure as a woman. Is there 
anything else that you wish to ask?” 

‘“T don’t know of anything else. But I wish that I 
might say something to convince you of my sincere 
repentance and sorrow. I have brought suffering upon 
innocent ones, and to undo that wrong I would willingly 
give my life. I hope that no disgrace, no reproach can 
the ze 








be brought against the 


+ 
ens 
« 
an 
ra 
<e 
C#« 
2G 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 279 


‘‘ Mister, the Wives of the Prophet are innocent. They 
have suffered, but they are not guilty, and in this world, 
even in the quietest nook of it, the innocent suffer at the 
hands of the guilty. That the guilty shall pay a penalty 
is but a meager reparation to the innocent, but such 
seems to be the unfortunate law of circumstances, not to 
say of nature.” 

‘To know that I have not brought disgrace as well as 
suffering is arelief to my mind,” Bryce replied, ‘‘and 





now if by reason I might convince you f 

‘“ Mister, you may save your arguments; you can con- 
vince us of nothing. You said that you had a speech to 
make but that it left you, It is just as well that it did 
leave you. ‘The belief, indeed the knowledge that our 
emotions were easily moved, inspired you to frame a 
speech, but no human words could arrest our judgment.’’ 

‘‘Hyen though you know that your judgment may be 
in opposition to the law of the state?’’ Bryce asked. 

‘* Mister, were you ten times as great as you are, to 
explain our action to the state would be an easy matter. 
The despoiler of a home can claim no protection from the 
state. The law as it is written might promise him pro- 
tection and a trial, but the people whose laws are stronger 
than the laws in books, would sanction the speediest and 
severest punishment. No, mister, you are beyond the 
protection of the law, and if you would ask for mercy, ask 


280 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


if for the soul rather than for the body. We shall now 
leave you alone, to prepare yourself for the judgment 
that is to come.’’ 

‘“Wait just a moment,’’ Bryce pleaded.  ‘‘ There is 
one request that I would make.’’ 

‘“ Mister, you may make it.” 

““Itis this: Let me see Alma for a moment.” 

Old man Boyle leaped off the floor. ‘‘ Father, let me 
cut his throat !’’ he cried. 

The Father stretched forth his hand. ‘‘ Councilman 
Boyle,” he said, ‘‘ vengeance is not for you alone; it is 
for us all. Mister,’’ he added, ‘‘ we cannot grant your 
request. We shall now leave you, and I charge you not 
to rest upon a hope that you may escape the judgment. 
You must look to God for mercy in the world that is 
waiting.’ 

‘‘ And I am to be murdered !” 

‘* You are to meet the judgment.’’ 

“When ?’’ 

‘We shall call for you. Good night.”’ 

Silently they filed out and Bryce heard them bolt the 
heavy door. ‘The slight disturbance of the air had caused 
the flame of the lamp to waver, and he stood there, gaz- 
ing at it, wondering if the light would last until they 
should call for him. He stepped toward the altar and 
trod upon the rope that lay upon the floor, and the noose 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 281 


tightened about his neck. He sprang back with a shud- 
der, and quivering, stood there gazing at the lamp. He 
felt that the darkness would smother him should the ight 
go out, for the walls, the ceiling, the floor were black. 
Surely the light was sinking and toward it he moved, but 
cautiously, to avoid treading upon the rope. Close to 
the light he held his eyes, gazing into the weak and 
yellow flame. It seemed all that was between him and 
an eternal blackness in the world beyond. Yes, the flame 
was dying. He heard a sound and eagerly he listened. A 
dog was barking, and this man in the agony of his lone- 
liness wished that the dog might come nearer and bark 
under the eaves of the Temple. He heard the faint cry- 
ing of a child, and upon the floor he stretched himself 
with his ear pressed. close to shut out the sound; he 
closed his eyes asif this would aid him, and when he 
opened them, he uttered a cry—the light was gone and 
he was in absolute blackness. He wondered that if by 
treading upon the rope he could choke himself to death, 
and he got up and in this way he strove to put an end to 
his misery, but he could inflict only a physical torture 
without even the promise of a mental relief. 

Again he lay down and now he held his breath, hoping 
that thus he might die, and once he fancied that he was 
losing consciousness, but suddenly he was sitting up, 
gasping for breath. Hours and hours of dead silence 


282 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


passed, and during that slow, stifling time, he hobbled up 


and down the room. He wondered whether the light had © 


really gone out or whether he had been struck with sud- 
den blindness, and he moved about, searching for the 
altar to find the lamp, to determine if it were burning. 
He found the altar and felt about with his nose and his 
lips, like a-blind horse. ‘There was the lamp and he put 
his face against it and it wascold. He held his lips to 
the wick and no warmth was there. No, he was not 
blind. He wondered whether by climbing upon the altar 
he could throw himself headlong upon the floor and break 
his neck and thus rob old Boyle of the pleasure that he 
longed for, the pleasure of seeing him die in an agony of 
fear. If there were some way of fastening the dangling end 
of the rope he could choke himself to death. No, he 
could not climb upon the altar. What was that? ‘The 
child was crying. ‘‘I will ask no question of nature!” 
he shouted, and the sharp tone of despair in his voice 
‘startled him. “ No, I will ask no question of nature nor 
of life, but of death. What is it to die? Wise men prove 
to their own satisfaction that there is no life after death, 
but where is the proof that shall satisfy me? I want their 
proof. They have none. I knowas much as they and I 
am the most wretched of all fools. I ask is there a God? 
I call upon Him to prove ittome. I begged for proot 
and narrowness and fanaticism stood up. But this is 


4 . 
; 
ee ah ; 
Sf es Se ee ; 
Aya ES Sng ¢ 
7! Pe ~ Pe, <7 + fq S'S 


THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 283 


blasphemy. O God, forgive me! O Saviour of miserable 
man, turn not Thy face from me’ He dropped upon his 
knees and sobbed a prayer. Suddenly he sprang to his 
feet in a new fright. The temple bell was tolling. He 
listened, each peal startling him afresh. There came a 
knock on the door and he heard the drawing of the bolt. 
The door was opened anda beam of light shot a pain 
through his eyes. ‘The Father stood there. 

‘* Mister, we have come for you.” 

‘“And I am ready to go. Sir, you I believe are a mer- 
ciful man, but tell me why you put a climax on my tor- 
ment by ringing that bell? Have you studied that you 
might refine a wretch’s misery? Why did you let them 
ring the bell ?”’ 3 

‘‘ Mister, the temple bell was rung to tell of your com- 
ing, and it was but appropriate and right that it should 
ring to tell of your going away. ‘The first ringing was 
laid down by our fathers, the last was advised by the 
Councilman Boyle, who is a wise man. And the ringing 
which you have just heard was meant as a fitness, and 
not asa torture. Come with me.” 

The Father took up the end of the rope, led Bryce to 
the bathroom, and untied his feet. ‘‘I will untie your 
hands too, so that you may bathe your face,’’ said the old 
man. ‘‘Itis not well that with a soiled countenance a 
man should go to meet his judgment.”’ 


984 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


The sun was rising ; light fell through the high win- ° 
dow, and when Bryce leaned over to dip his hands into 
the water, he saw his face reflected, saw that his hair was 
white. He washed his face, and as he was drying it 
upon a coarse towel, that had been placed near at hand, 
he saw that the Father upon stepping out had not bolted 
the door. A feeble hope of escape came to him, but 
instantly it died for he saw Councilman Boyle looking in 
upon him. ‘That was the final end of all chance, and 
now all that was left was to die like a man. ‘Iam 
ready,’’ he said. 

Boyle stepped in, tied his hands, and catching up the 
rope, which had not been taken from about his neck, led 
him forth. The Father and the other Councilmen stood 
under the portico and, when Bryce was brought out, the 
Father took the lead, and the others, one behind another, 
slowly followed him. Near unto the well they led the 
prisoner, and he gazed toward the house of the Prophet, 
but saw no one. The village appeared to be deserted. 
No, not wholly, for off to the right, near the weaver’s 
room, were several old women tending a number of 
children ; but the children were not playing as they were 
wont, but curiously they were gazing at Bryce, and were 
silent. ‘Toward the creek they led him, past the place 
where Benjamin had been stretched upon the ground. 
They came within sight of a tree with a strong, protrud- 


. 


THE WIVES OF THE PROHPET. | 985 


ing bough, and Bryce thought that to it they would surely 
hang him, but they passed under the tree, onward down 
the creek. Whither were they taking him, and what had 
become of all the people? Had it been forbidden that 
they should look upon him, and had they been warned by 
the bell to shut themselves in their Houses? 

A long time passed and now they were in the dells. 
Up a slant they went, and Bryce suddenly drew back, for 
gathered on the slope at the Witch Hole were the people 
of Bolga. He was led among them to a place cleared in 
the midst of the crowd, and he looked about him, but 
toward him no eye was turned. He looked down at the 
blue water, and there was Benjamin in a canoe, and along 
side was another canoe with a man in it, and across both 
canoes a broad board was placed. A short distance up 
the slope a fire was burning and he saw an iron bar stick- 
ing out from a bed of coals. What was the meaning of 
this odd arrangement? He looked off to the right and 
there were the Wives arrayed in black, but they looked 
not at him but stood with bowed heads, and among them, 
held in the arms of their mothers, were three children. 
He looked away, far upward at a buzzard sailing round 
and round. A child cried in a weak voice and he heard 
its mother cooing softly to silence it. The Father came 
to him and with a sharp knife slit the sleeves of his robe 





286 THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 


so that his arms were bare and there were the pictures 
with the sunlight falling upon them. 

‘‘ Mister,” said the old man, ‘‘I have not pleaded for 
your life for that would have been unjust to us all, but I 
have pleaded that your end might not be one of prolonged 


torture.’’ He was silent for a moment, and then ina 
smothered voice he said: ‘‘I hope that God may forgive 
you.” 


Then came Boyle with a red hot iron, and he said: 
‘‘Mister, it is befitting that those names be burned off 
your flesh.” 

He touched Bryce’s arm with the iron and the wretched 
man cried out and fell back, but Hallett caught him and 
held him up. He nerved himself, and not again when 
the iron was pressed to his flesh did he struggle to free 
himself, but stood there with his nether lip between his 
teeth and with agony in his countenance; and from the 
corners of his mouth blood was oozing. 

Boyle threw down the iron to announce that his work 
was done, and Councilman Trent took up the rope and 
led the prisoner down to the water’s edge, and now a man 
came forward, carrying a heavy stone. The rope was 
taken from Bryce’s neck and the heavy stone was tied to 
his feet. Then he was placed standing upon the board 
that rested upon the canoes. A sign was made by the 
Father, and Benjamin and the man in the other canoe 


Bide ees 
re. eee 


eT ede ? PA ay, ; 
ie ve , eee gf) id s Pa Lene oh liad in yd ~ bs 7 1 s per 





THE WIVES OF THE PROPHET. 287 


gently dipped their paddles until the craft was midway 
the Witch Hole, and then they sat motionless, waiting, 
Benjamin grasping one end of the board. Bryce recalled 
the day when he had played with a bass in the blue 
depths of that water; he looked up the stream and he 
fancied that he could see that same cold shudder running 
up and down the creek ; he looked toward the shore and 
he saw a child in Alma’s arms. No speech was sweeping 
through his mind, and they were waiting for him to say 
something, but he was silent, with the words, ‘‘ Merciful 
God! Merciful God!” coming as an echo from the loud 


beating of his heart. 


The Father raised his arm ; Benjamin gave the board 
a twisting jerk—there was a splash, a violent rocking of 
the canoes and all was done. 

Down upon their knees the people sank, and there was 
no sound save the low gurgle of the river, slowly swal- 
lowing the creek. And there they remained kneeling 
until a voice commanded them to arise. Then sadly they 
turned away in the sunshine. And while homeward the 
Father was leading his people, and as he drew near unto 
the field where the flax was grown, he saw a man with a_ 
strange instrument, squinting at the landscape—the fore- 
feeler of a railway that was to disturb the quietude of 
Bolga. 

THE END. 





A BOOK FOR 
ALL PROFESSIONS Hi 


A COFMPANION FOR ) 
THE WORKSHOP 


MECHANICAL ARTS 
SIMPLIFIED 





A WORK 
OF 





FOR 
THE USE OF 


Architects 
Builders 
Blacksmiths 
Bookkeepers 
Boiler Makers) 
Contractors 
Civil Engineers 
Draughtsmen 
Designers 
Electricians 
Firemen 


Foremen of [Machine 
Shops 


Hydraulic Engineers 
Iron Workers 




















Machinery Jobbers 
Machinists 


Locomotive Engineers 


REFERENCE | 


D. B. DIXON AND THOMAS GRIER 





By D.B DIXONS THOS GRIER 


¢ For BEGINNERS avo SKILLEDWORKMEN * 





ACOoMPREHENSIVE TREATISE ON ELECTRICITY. 
THE BEST METHODS For Arcuitects. 
ENGINEERS,MAGHINISTS-STONE.[RON 
AND Woop WORKERS Mabe Easy. 





4 Elegantly Bound 
IN 
Cloth and Gold 


A8 Pages. 

in clear Type and 
on the Finest Quality 
of Paper. 












Attractive Design 
on 
Side Cover 


Printed | 







THE BEST 
METHODS 


EXPLAINED 
.+-FOR... 


Machinery Salesmen 
Marine Engineers 
Master Car Builders 


Machine Shop Proprie= 
tors 


Master Mechanics of 
Railroads 


Mining Engineers 
Mechanical Engineers 
Pattern Makers 
il u 
Mapeats ee 
Railway Superintend=- 
ents 


Road Masters 
Stationary Engineers 
Superintendents of 
actories 
Students and Business 
Men Generally 


A MOST VALUABLE BOOK 


*“‘An inexhaustible instructor for shop and office.’’—The Engineer. 
“The electric department, by a well-known expert, is thorough and compre- 


hensive.”’—Hlectric Review. 


Other scientific journals speak in the same high praise, 


Live Agents Wanted Everywhere. 


PRICE, $2.50. 


of price. 


will sell at sight to all artisans and mechanics. 


LAIRD &*LEE 
263 and 265 Wabash Avenue, Chicago 


No Experience Needed. 


Complete copy, with confidential terms, mailed on receipt 
Now is the grand opportunity to make money rapidly. The book 


Publishers 
AdvA 


t 








A Peerless Compendium of 
Ready Information <2 





fi q I (i | 


< oe Fi ng The = PAGES 
Gem 


iS 
Gate 


yy 
x Encyclopedia 





BVE RY MERCHANT, MECHANIC, ARTISAN, STU- 
dent or Professional man will find this a reliable reference book 
of the constantly recurring things which he desires to know where 
or how to find. The book is the work of an eminent statistician 
and scholar. and is selected from years of experience and ma- 
terial. From the newspaper reporter to the farm laborer or pub- 
lic school pupil, it is a never-failing source of quickly accessible 
information. 


Every Valuable Item 
Under the Sun 


Is here CLASSIFIED ready for instant use. No description here can give any 
idea of the marvellous variety of every day information included in this book. 
Scientific, Medical, Political, Mechanical, Architectural, Naval, Martial, 
Geographical, Astronomical, Meteorological, Statistical, Historical, Chrono= 
logical, Ecclesiastic, Superstitious and Mystic, Municipal, Civil, Biographi- 
cal, Mathematical, Legal, Bibulous, Biblical, Military, and universal in its 

collection of all that is in any way Quaint, Curious or Useful. . 


PRICES: » Silk Cloth, Flexible Covers = = 25 cents 
1 Library Style, Silk Cloth, Stiff Covers Beers) eared 


4 aS Re eoge BY ALL -JOBBERS AND NEWS COMPANIES, OR DIRECT. 
? 3 LIBERAL TERMS TO THE TRADE. 


LAIRD & LEE = = = Publishers 


ia! 263 and 265 Wabash Avenue, Chicago 
at Ady E 








Conklin’s Handy Manual — 


a re é 
Pral kS | Useful Conpendium ~~ 


ate iS ry 3 ae? 
es ga 
: My © PRIGE—-LIMP CLOTH, 25 CENTS e 
i aq STIFF CLOTH, GOLD EMBOSSED, 50CENTS = 


l 
Oc ier 

The volume contains 440 pages and 50 full-page colored maps, and a de- = 
scription of every country in the world; a Reference Encyclopedia, including as 
1,000,000 facts of practical value. The G. A. R. Department will be found the =t 
most complete ever published. The latest electrical inventions fully reviewed. ro 
The last census (1890) thoroughly examined, and the most interesting facts : 
and figures given in fullin a crisp, clear manner. ’ 

CONKLIN’S HANDY MANUAL is published also in the German language, 
the German edition containing 444 pages. Prices and styles of binding are 
the same as for the English edition. 


il 
I 


MW 
“it 


ue 








. 


World’s Ready Reckoner 


... AND... 


RAPID CALCULATOR 
320 PAGES, BOARDS, 25 CENTS 


——:0:—— 


Contains tables of values of the moneys of all the coun- 
tries of the world; the most concise and practical rules 
for practical mensuration ever printed; the value of all 
rare U. S. coins; interest tables; table showing the number of days from any ~ 
one month to the same day in any other month; complete tables of board by 
the day, week, month or year; simplest method for reckoning interest; light- 
ning tables for marking goods bought by the dozen so as to makea certain 
percentage of profit on each article; board, plank, timber, scantling, wood and — 
stone "measurement tables; mechanics’ iron rule; rules for measurement Of — 
corn in the ear, brick, casks and barrels, grain; rule to make square timber — 
octagon; legal rate of interest for all the States of the Union; tables of 
weights and measures; legal weight per bushel of different kindsofgrain; 
useful recipes for everybody. ‘: 





LAIRD & LEE = > = Publishers 


263 and 265 Wabash Avenue, Chicago 5 
Adv LL 





> 


bis os * 


<-2 


emer 
2 ais alla 


The Century Cook Book 


By JENNIE A. HANSEY, Expert Cook and Caterer 
... AND... 


Family Medical Adviser 


By an Eminent Physician 


368 PAGES. 30! ILLUSTRATIONS 

It contains more genuine, carefully selected, tried 
and tested recipes than any other work of corre- 
sponding size. 

It can be readily understood by anyone; even a 
child who can read. No foreign or ambiguous terms 
are used; no mysterious formulas or bewildering 
phrases. Simplicity and consistency have been aimed 
at and attained in the compilation of the recipes. 

It is thoroughly illustrated, the engravings num- 
bering over 300, ably assisting the printed instruc- 
tions by characteristic portrayal. 

Itis systematically classified—treating not only of the labor of the kitchen 
but of all other departments of household duties as well. The dining-room, 
the laundry, the sick chamber, each having ample space allowed them. 

It embraces a thorough, comprehensive medical department, conscienti- 
ously compiled by an eminent physician of long and varied experience, whose 
practical knowledge will prove of incalculable service in the family for the 
treatment of simple ills and unforseen accidents that may occur at any time. 


A Book for the Family os 
ee A Household Treasure 


It furnishes recipes for preparing and cooking anything. Soups, Fish, 
Poultry, Game, Meats, Entrees and Removes, Salads, Relishes, Vegetables and 
Fancy Dishes, Pies, Puddings, Cakes, Ices, Candies, and other delicacies. 

It tells how to make Washing Fluids, Blueing, Soaps, and many household 
necessities. It supplies formulas for Liniments, Ointments and medical pre- 
parations, as well as reliable recipes for Face Powders, Perfumes and Toilet 
Requisites. 

A feature of importance will be found in a number of blank pages in the 
back part of the volume providing a handy means for adding any new recipe 
obtained by reading or imparted by a chance visitor. 


AN ATTRACTIVE BOOK. RETAIL PRICE, 25 CENTS 


LAIRD & LEE ~ = 2 Publishers 
263 and 265 Wabash Avenue, Chicago 





f Thisbeck contains 300 mvalratenama 
red 


NM Sees 
(gy fee CENTURY ~ ¥ 
hy) ~ GOK Book 











Adv N 


Br igt eo Ste Pace A OS nea ay er eRe 
ee Tay ayo Se sol cn a Bae ds eS el 





“A MARKED INNOVATION — 
THE PASTIMB SERIES | 


The most popular collection of Standard Novels now before oan 3 
the public has had recently added the complete works of 


WI. H. THOMES 


These thrilling stories of travel and adventure have never been 
sold for less than 50 cents in paper covers. When first published = 
in cloth they so!ld for $2.00 per volume. Now offered complete — 
unabridged, unchanged, at 25 cents. as 


READ THE TITLES 
A GOLD HUNTER’S ADVENTURES IN AUSTRALIA. 
A WHALEMAN’S ADVENTURES ON SEA AND LAND. 


THE BUSHRANGERS; A Yankee’s Adventures During a Second is 
Trip to Australia. 


A SLAVER’S ADVENTURES ON SEA AND LAND. 
RUNNING THE BLOCKADE. : <r 
‘THE GOLD HUNTERS IN EUROPE; or, The Dead Alive. 
THE BELLE OF AUSTRALIA; or, Who Am 1? sae 

~ ON LAND AND SEA; or; California in the Years 1843, ’44 and pee, 
LEWEY AND 1; or, A Sailor Boy’s Wanderings. 
LIFE IN THE EAST INDIES. 17 Full-page Illustrations. 








Readers of good Literature are advised to procure Lairp & 
Lee’s Publications, as they are printed from large type on excel- 
lent paper profusely illustrated, and bound in solid and attractive i 
covers. Revie * 
SOLD BY ALL. NEWSDEALERS AND UPON ALL TRAINS, OR SUP. 

PLIED BY THE PUBLISHERS. 


LAIRD & LEE = = Publishers 


263 ang 265 Wabash “Avenue, Chicago Adv Ee 


_ 
















a Complete Library 


MODERN RULES, FACTS PROCESSES, ETC, 


y ...FOR THE.. 
ENGINEER, ARTISAN AND ELECTRICIAN 
A MECHANICAL NBM us OnE VOLUME—5/75 PAGES 


_ Five books in one. Worth its weight in gold to every 
mechanic. The very latest information fgr twenty different 
_ trades. This wonderful book contains 575 pages absolutely teem- 
‘ing-with rules, tables, secret processes, and new information that 
cannot be had elsewhere for less than $25.00. 


..PARTIAL LIST OF CONTENTS.:. 


The Modern Steam Engine—How to Read an Indicator— 

he Westinghouse Air Brake—-Blacksmiths’ and Machinists’ 
ools—Practical Mathematics Simplified—Tin and Sheet Iron 
Workers’ Manual—-Carpenters’ Manual—Points for Painters— 
agnetism and Electricity—How to get a Patent—-A Mechanical 
-Dirctionary. 
Everything explained in one handsome volume, guaranteed to 
be absolutely correct. With each copy of the book we give free 
_ acomplete working chart for setting gear teeth. The regular 
rice of this chart is $1.00. 


PRICES AND STYLES OF BINDING 


: Bound i in finest Turkey Morocco, embossed on side and back 


: Peeeaid, and marbled 6dg6s. Ao... closes hens sedeees abs $1.50 
Bound in flexible Silk Cloth, embossed on the side in silver, 
and red edges Rie ani ee lh gyal haber caer, 1.00 


LAIRD & LEE = = Publishers 
263 and 265 Wabash “Avenue, Chicago rae 
a 


The .Mechanic’s) | 


é 


ij 


— 
we 


} 
: 


; 


t 














ore WI 


AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION Camp Library : Book Card 


Date 


Sign Your Name, Company and Regiment Here 


























Name 
Co. Reg. 
Name 
Co. Reg, 
Name 
Co Reg. 
Name 
Co; Reg. 
Name 
Co. Reg. 
Name 
Co. Reg. 
Name 
Co, Reg. 
Name 


Co. Reg, 





na 


